


Satellites

by delaneym_15



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Lance (Voltron), Dark Lance (Voltron), Don't Hurt His Friends, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Latino Lance (Voltron), M/M, Sniper Lance (Voltron), Tags Contain Spoilers, Torture, Updated tags after this, dad!Lance, everyone does in fact care, he'll come for you, honestly, it does end in Klance guys, just pure langst, kind of, klance, lance is a badass in this one, like sorry to my boi but I'm making him suffer, more like morally ambiguous lance, my poor blue boi, my poor boi gets tortured in this, single dad Lance, umm language? I guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:55:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 34,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25451989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delaneym_15/pseuds/delaneym_15
Summary: Lance gets kidnapped on a mission. The team is doing all they can to try and find him, but will they find him in time? or will it be too late for their Blue Paladin?also publishing on Tumblr under delaneytveit
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 41
Kudos: 308





	1. one

Lance grunted as he hit the floor again, the training bot towering over him. Had Allura or any of the others been here, he was sure he would have heard some comment about what he had done wrong, or how tired they were of watching him fail over and over again. As much as their comments hurt, he couldn’t fault them for saying it. He was just as frustrated. It just hurt hearing them from people who were supposed to be helping him. 

“End training sequence.” He barked out of annoyment. He needed to get his anger out, and close combat would only piss him off more. He pushed himself up off the ground once the bot fell through it and headed to the bench to get his bottle of water. He took a few sips before wiping his forehead with a small towel and headed back on to the floor. He pulled off the stifling chest plate and arm shields, leaving his upper half in only the black under armour.

“Start Range training sequence, level 9.” 

“Starting Range training sequence level 9.” an automated voice stated as His bayard took the form of a small handgun as temporary walls emerged from the floor. Lance quickly jumped behind the closer one just a few ticks before the first bot was dropped on to the training deck.

Lance continued to train like this for two more hours, his bayard transforming from long range rifle to blaster pistol to an almost automatic looking blaster. Making it up to his new record of level 14. A whole 11 levels above his normal rank in the unspecialized training sequence. It made sense to him. The unspecialized meant both close and long range combat, and while Lance excelled at long range, it was no secret his lack of expertise in the former. 

Allura and Shiro both stood in the observation deck, staring in awe at the exhibition of the Blue paladin. They had both been conversing on ways to get Lance to be more diligent with his training when they came across the sounds of blaster rounds coming from the training room. 

“Why can’t he do that in normal training? He’s clearly more advanced than the others!” Allura seemed more annoyed than shocked. 

Shiro laughed at that, he had just been thinking the same thing, however he was quick to realize his error, once Lance gave to command to end the sequence.  
“End training sequence!” He didn’t even sound out of breath. 

“Ending Range Training sequence level 14.” 

Caught up in watching Lance shoot down the bots earlier, Allura and Shiro hadn’t paid attention to the commands he had been calling out until now. 

Shiro turned to Allura, “Did you know we had specialised training sequences?”

Allura shook her head quickly, how did she not know about a simple thing as a specialized training on a deck in her own ship? And more importantly how did Lance know about it? Why didn’t he suggest using it at team training? 

They watched as Lance grabbed the rest of his gear, taking another gulp of water from his bottle and walk out of the training room. 

The walk to his room was quick and uneventful. Everyone else asleep or relaxing in their rooms. He was glad for the warm water of the shower once it came, his sore muscles uncoiling and releasing the tension they held just a moment before. He took his time in the shower, relishing in the relaxation it provided before finally turning off the water, toweling off and getting ready for bed. 

It was 4 am when the alarms went off, Lance launching himself up and hurriedly changed into his armor before sprinting out of his room and straight to the bridge. 

They were being attacked by ship, they didn’t look galra, but they were hostile nonetheless. Allura hurriedly explained the situation, not before chastising Lance for being late- again- and the paladins made their way to their hangars. 

It would have probably been a quick fight, had a dozen more ships not emerged in the middle of the battle. No one had noticed when Lance had been struck by three separate ships. No one had noticed when Lance lost control of Blue, as she fell from the stars and down to the planet below. No one noticed when Lance’s coms went out. No one noticed when a ship followed his, landing close to it and boarded Blue. No one noticed when the Blue Paladin, with tired muscles, a rib breaking skin, a pool of blood at his feet fought the intruders. And they certainly didn’t notice when Blue returned to the castle without her paladin. 

No, no one would notice until they were all finished with the battle, concerned with why Lance had yet to emerge from Blue with his cocky attitude and outrageous comments a few minutes after they had all returned. 

It was Shiro who had finally entered Blue, his worst scenario being that Lance would somehow be hurt or unconscious. He had never entertained the idea that the pilot’s chair would be empty.


	2. Two

Lance had been missing for the better part of 5 Earth weeks, and to say the team was worried was an understatement. Despite their attempts at tracking the blue paladin, it seemed that not even his armor would be of use. 

The team had gathered into the bridge, trying and failing to come up with more ideas to find their friend. Pidge had been in the middle of explaining why tracking the armor wasn’t working when an alarm sounded on the main console. 

“Allura?” Hunk hated the way that his fear showed in his voice. Despite knowing that it would likely happen that they would have to do a few missions without Lance, he still didn’t like it. It only made him more anxious knowing that such precious time could have been used to find his best friend. “What is it?”

It wasn’t lost on the paladins the hesitancy that the Princess had taken before responding, her eyes never leaving the small screen in front of her as she no doubt was debating whether or not to announce the castle’s findings to the others. 

“Its...We’re receiving a live transmission.” she finally spoke. She had half a mind to ignore it, Voltron may be the defender of the universe, but finding the blue paladin was the top priority. However, she knew that by doing so, she could very well be condemning innocent civilians to death, and she wasn’t sure if she could take much more guilt of that weight. So without a second thought, she accepted the transmission. 

Instantly, the large screen at the head of the room lit up. A scene no one was prepared for greeted them painfully. Gasps and a few curses, primarily by Shiro and Hunk, were heard throughout the bridge, as all of their eyes settled on the figure hunched over in a chair. Wires and what Pidge could only guess as electrodes littered his chest, abdomen, and head.The prisoner, their friend, was almost unrecognizable. His chocolate brown hair now reached just below his jaw, drenched in sweat. He was much too skinny, ribs almost entirely exposed, and his once tan skin a deathly pale colour that would make a vampire cringe. Before anymore could be said, a figure appeared before the screen, blocking their view. 

“Ah, so good of you to join us paladins, I had thought that our guest here might need a bit more...motivation.” The words were harsh, and Keith hated the sound of amusement that the speaker’s voice carried. This was far from amusing. 

“Shall we begin? Hm?” the speaker backed away and stepped towards the seated figure, looking off screen before nodding. “Wake him up.” 

The paladins watched as a Galra soldier stepped into frame, a syringe filled with a clear white liquid in hand, before using the other hand to grab the hair of the prisoner. He tilted the head to the side, and pushed the needle of the syringe into the skin of the now exposed neck. 

To their horror, the prisoner immediately woke with a start, ocean blue eyes wide and frantic before he leaned forward and expelled what little contents in his stomach he had. 

“Starting interrogation session 27,” the voice came from the first speaker. “What is your name?”  
Lance scoffed, shaking his head, still hunched over. Though he wouldn’t be for long, as the answer was clearly not what the interrogator wanted. In a split second Lance seized, the electrodes letting lose the electricity into his body. 

He knew he probably shouldn’t keep his jaw clenched, but the scream he knew would come from loosening it was not something he wanted his captors to hear. No, he would not give them that satisfaction. The sounds that alluded his mouth anyways was enough. A few ticks later it was over, and he fell forward again. 

“I had hoped that by giving you an audience, you’d be much more willing to cooperate.” the interrogator spoke, fake disappointment dripping from their words. “Let’s try this again shall we? What is your full name?” 

At that Lance gracelessly spit on to the floor. He slowly tilted his head so his eyes met the interrogator’s. “Fuck you.” His voice was hoarse, he almost didn’t even recognize it. 

The interrogator wasted no time setting his body alight with more electricity. This continued on for what the paladins felt forever. The interrogator asking the same question, and Lance refusing to answer only to be rewarded with more shocks. 

Hunk felt sick to his stomach as he watched his friend be tortured at the hand of this monster. He could hear Pidge beside him begging for Lance to just answer, but he knew his best friend. He knew that Lance would hold out for as long as he could. That Lance would continue to take this pain, no matter what it did to him, because of his stupid self sacrificing ways. And he couldn’t do anything to stop it. 

After the fifth shock, Lance began to lull to the side, his body no longer able to hold itself up. “He can’t take anymore.” Hunk spoke, his voice just a whisper, “His heart.” 

“Number Two is right, anymore and he’ll go into cardiac arrest.” Coran shook his head, remembering that the interrogator had announced that this was the ninth session. Had Lance been subjected to this 8 times before? The poor boy. It was a wonder that he was even still alive, let alone composed enough to refuse interrogation in such a way. 

The interrogator asked again, this time receiving not even a shake of his head before subjecting Lance to not one, but two more rounds of electricity. Coran hated how correct he was, as he watched Lance collapse on himself in the chair. 

“No!” Keith slammed his fist on the console, causing the entire room to jump at the outburst. 

As if hearing him, the second Galra walked into frame, another syringe in hand and repeated the process he had done at the start of the transmission. The effect a direct mirror to earlier as Lance shot up again. 

“What did they inject him with?” Hunk already had an idea, but God he wished he was wrong. 

“It might be some form of adrenaline.” Pidge piped up, shaking her head. “If that’s what they gave him before…” she didn’t want to complete the thought. How often had they been doing this to him? There was no way that injecting that much of any hormone as often as they did wouldn’t have some side effects. 

“What is your full name, paladin?” the interrogator asked again. This time with more anger, as they were clearly getting annoyed at Lance’s ability to hold out as long as he did. But he could only hold out for so long. Clearly seeing that the shocks were doing nothing, they resorted to more physical forces. Without missing a beat, the interrogator threw a punch against Lance’s left cheek, the action nearly toppling him over. Then again, and again until Lance could do naught but hang his head between his hunched shoulders. The interrogator gripped his hair and pulled back, forcing Lance to lean back, eyes piercing into his before landing another punch straight to Lance’s stomach, the sound making everyone in the bridge wince. 

He let go of Lance’s hair just in time for Lance to lean forward and heave for the second time. This time a dangerous red painted the contents. “Oh...that’s not good.” The whisper was almost too faint for the camera to pick up, but Keith heard it nonetheless. The lack of concern that the blue paladin’s voice held pissed him off even more. Here he was being beaten, tortured, within an inch of his life, and he still thought it was a joke? 

It was with the last shock that Lance finally broke. No longer able to keep himself up right, nor keep his eyes open. The interrogator demanded his full name, and in a whisper he spoke. 

“Alejandro Sebastian Serrano.”


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, the team finally has some knowledge of Lance. They know he's alive at least. What else will they learn? And how much more will Lance have to go through?

The team stood in shocked silence. No one daring to move, nor speak. The transmission had cut out almost as soon as Lance had finally given in and answered the interrogator. Now all that remained was a black screen.   
It was Shiro who had finally broken the silence, a single word leaving his lips. The sound enough to break even the strongest hearts. “Lance.” 

It seemed the sound had struck something in Keith, as without a word, he stormed out of the room. Shiro knew without a doubt his brother was going straight to the training room, prepared to decimate as many training bots as possible. 

It had been three quintants since the team had received the transmission. Three quintants in which not a single team member slept, nor did they want to. The sight of Lance being forced to endure such horror, the sound of his screams, haunted all of them. How could any of them rest when their blue paladin was being subjected to far worse than they had ever imagined. 

What haunted Hunk the most though, wasn’t the screams, or the seizing body of his best friend. But his eyes. Those soft, ocean blue eyes that were built for comfort and warmth, that held a lightness to them in a way that only Lance could possess. Those weren’t the eyes that Hunk had seen in the video. The blue was cold as ice, a darkness that threatened to consume you any moment. He knew from those eyes that what they were seeing was only the tip of the iceberg to what Lance was being subjected to. 

Getting Lance would be a battle, but bringing him back to who he was before being a captive would be damn near impossible. 

+++

Lance woke up back in his cell. His body on fire as it reminded him of the events that had played out earlier. He attempted to push himself up, at least to a sitting position, but his arms refused. It wasn’t like he would have been able to remain vertical anyways, the spinning in his head simply laying down was enough to have him retching. No doubt he had a concussion...again. 

God what he wouldn’t give for a few painkillers and a glass of water. When was the last time he had water? He couldn’t remember. He didn’t know how long it had been since he'd been at the castle, it felt like years since he’d last been in its cold comfort. In his own bed, wrapped in his blankets with his head laid gently on a soft satin pillow. 

It felt like a lifetime ago, though he knew logically it couldn’t have been more than a few days. His friends would never leave him for longer, right? They had to be finding a way to get him, planning and calculating the risks. Trying to find a way to bring him back. 

As much as he wanted to believe that they would though, there was still that much too loud voice in his head. The one telling him that they probably didn’t even notice that he was gone. That they probably liked the fact that there was no one to constantly annoy them. 

It would probably be easier for them to just find a whole new paladin. Why not? There was bound to be someone out there who could take over. Someone who was a better pilot, a better shot, a better fighter. Someone deserving of actually being a paladin. 

Someone who wasn’t him. 

Before he could reprimand himself for even possessing such a thought, a sharp pain spread through his entire body, starting at his stomach. He grounded loudly into the floor as he attempted to bring his arms up to wrap them around himself to no avail. All he could do was lay there motionless and in pain. Waiting and praying to black out again. 

When he next woke up, he was no longer in a cell. Instead strapped to a table. An IV had been inserted into his arm. He followed the tube with hesitant eyes before they caught sight of the murky grey colour of whatever was being dripped into his bloodstream. 

Whatever it was, he didn’t have a good feeling about it. 

He was feeling even more vertigo that before when he first woke up in the cell, and his breaths were coming out too slow for his liking. He looked around the room, knowing it was probably the same room he had been brought into when the druids first attempted to pry information out of him. They received nothing, though not for lack of trying. He shivered at the memory, still much too vivid in his mind. How many times had he been in that room? He couldn't remember. He knew it too well, knew the pain that always came from being held in that room. The druids were getting creative with their methods now. Their goal had transformed from trying to get information to simply trying to break him in as many ways as possible. Yes, he knew this room well. 

What he didn’t remember was the colours of the room. Did they always swim like that? Move like a kaleidoscope? He was sure they didn’t and staring in one place for too long threatened to upset his painfully empty stomach. 

Nothing about his existence in that room was painless. It seemed every nerve ending in his body was alight with it, and it caused his body to shake tremendously despite the confinements. 

He laid there for what felt like hours before the door finally opened, a druid emerging in their customary purple robes. But the purple didn’t look like the one he knew, instead it was more vibrant, neon maybe? And patterned with such awkward colours that it made his head swim again. No, that wasn’t right. The druids wore plain purple, right? 

He chalked up his hallucination to an effect of whatever was in that IV. 

He heard the druid speak, but the words refused to register. A mix of sounds and grunts that he knew wasn’t right, but his brain refused to decode. He was lost in thought, trying to discern exactly what the druid had said when he felt such an excruciating pain that he was sure he would pass out any second. 

Looking over at his outstretched arm, he could see his hand impaled by something, a knife? No, it was green and gold and pink and bended in such a weird way. He watched with wide eyes as the druid withdrew the object completely, only to plunge it back in. He screamed, but it didn’t sound like a scream. It didn’t sound like anything. He knew he screamed, his throat was on fire with the exertion of it, but the sound didn’t reach his ears. 

Yup, that was definitely a knife, and the IV was pumping him full of some kind of hallucinogenic drugs. 

He probably should have guessed that. He was no stranger to such, he had been known to go to a rave every once in a while. But holy crap is this what a bad trip is? No wonder people completely fucking lost it. 

He watched as the druid studied his hand, the knife still fully sheathed inside of it. He knew without a doubt that the knife was pinning his hand to the table. His mind was racing, and his eyes followed them. 

He was going to die here.

They were going to tear him apart. 

He was never supposed to be a paladin, he should have stayed on Earth. 

What would happen once they got tired of tormenting him? Would they kill him? Would they throw him into the arena and hope some blood thirsty monster would finish the job? Would they dissect him like he was a lab rat? Would they experiment on him? Would they replace all of his limbs with metal prosthetics? Would they take out organs? Sell them? His eyes? His liver? His hands? 

He was spiraling, he knew that but he couldn’t stop. 

Would his friends rescue him? Would they hate him for getting captured? Think he’s incompetent for being unable to comlete such a simple mission? Allura would chastise him for sure? Would she kick him out? Force him to find his own way home? How would they look at him if they found him? With pity? With disgust? With hatred? They hated him, they had too. 

He was the paladin they needed the least. The most useless. The one that they had to go out of their way to save. He shouldn’t even have been there. Maybe killing him would be a mercy? Too good of a mercy maybe? Did he even deserve that much? 

He almost didn’t feel the next knife, the one that now impaled his left hand. Almost. He let out an involuntary scream, the pain the only thing that broke him from his spiralling mind. He prayed to black out, to let this be over just for a moment. 

The druid walked to where his head lay, placing a long skeleton like finger over his lips, clearly an attempt to silence him. Was he talking? He had no idea. He looked up at the mask covered face that hung before him, eyes wide with a terror he knew he wouldn’t be able to hide. He watched as they brought both hands to his head, felt the spider like things touch his temples, causing him to flinch away, but with no where to go they remained. They were gentle, soft, their motions more relaxing than they should be. Were they massaging him? No that wasn’t r-

He didn’t have time to finish that thought, as his entire body seized in the most excruciating pain he had ever felt. His entire body arched up off of the table as the druid held his head down. He wasn’t sure if it had stopped, or if he simply blacked out, but the sight of the druid standing above him, pushing his head further into the metal table, and the intense pain that came from their fingers was the last thing he remembered.


	4. Four

“I found him!” Pidge screamed as she came barreling into the kitchen. Everyone had already sat down to eat what they could of the entirely unappetizing food goo breakfast. “I found him! I found him! I found him!” she was practically jumping at her words. 

“H-How?” Hunk looked at her in complete shock. She had found Lance, that meant that they could finally plan and enact a rescue mission. He could get his bestfriend back. 

Everyone listened closely as she detailed how she had used the signature on the transmission to pinpoint the satellites that it bounced off to get to them, and then basically followed the tracks to a quadrant half a dozen galaxies away. Using that location to scan for a ship big enough to hold prisoners, and narrowing down the ships to one that held an unnamed prisoner with the highest security detail. A prisoner named "The Leo Project."

“Okay, that’s great and all.” Keith spoke, picking uninterestedly at the food goo on his plate, “but how do you know its him? It could be anyone.” Shiro and Allura both nodded in agreement, but it was clear that Pidge wasn’t done. 

“If you hadn’t so rudely interrupted me, emo boy, I would have told you that I was able to hack into their security cameras. I found his cell.” She held up her opened laptop to reveal the video feed. Instantly the group crowded around her, desperate to get a glimpse of their teammate. 

“Oh my god.” Shiro had his hand to his mouth in shock as he looked upon the screen. Sure enough, it was Lance. Somehow even skinnier than he was in the first transmission. He was curled up in a ball in the far side of the cell, shaking so intensely it shouldn’t have been possible. His hands were wrapped in blood stained bandages, held tightly to his chest. He looked so small, like a scared child. 

He is a child, the boy had just turned 18. 

Pidge was about to say something, probably to boast about her genius when two galra entered the cell. Lance shot his head up, and instantly the terrified child like air was gone, replaced with a sentiment Shiro knew much too well. In that split second, Lance had gone into complete survival mode. The Galra walked up to Lance and made a motion to reach for him, but didn’t get very far, as Lance had shot up, clearly startling the Galra as he fell backwards. 

They didn’t even realize what he had done until they heard a tell tale crack, the previously startled galra now lay on the floor, lifeless. 

“D-Did he just…” Hunk felt sick. No, there was no way Lance would do that, there was no way he could be capable of that. 

Before anyone else could answer a flash of light crossed the screen, followed by a blood curdling scream. Lance lay on the ground beside the fallen Galra, panting as heavily as he was bleeding. 

“You are way more trouble than you’re worth, paladin.” the second Galra sneered, his gun never leaving Lance’s shuddering form. “Try it again and I don’t care what the druids say, I’ll kill you myself.” 

They watched as he called down the hall and three more guards appeared, two to take the fallen guard away, and one knelt by Lance, securing cuffs onto his wrists and ankles. 

“Make sure they’re tight, would be a shame if he never made it to the lab.” He nodded before tightening them, earning a scream from the paladin. 

He hoisted the boy up and the two guards dragged him out of the cell. 

“...Well, I think that answers your question, Keith.” Pidge announced, slowly closing her computer in shock. 

+++ 

Shiro was concerned. More than concerned. He was terrified. Lance, the jokester, the happy go lucky, the one who kept everyone sane. The boy who only wanted to go home, who missed his mother more with every day. The one who made sure everyone else was okay before himself. The protector, the nurse, the helper, the brother. The idea that such a person could be capable of such an act. 

He knew that thought was hypocritical, they were in a war. Death, killing, it was an unavoidable aspect of it. But it still haunted him, that such a light hearted person would be forced to do something like that. 

He was scared for the Lance that would come back. He wouldn’t be the same, he’d be a shell of who he once was. Would he remember any of this? Or would he be like Shiro and lock it all away? The leader didn’t know which was worse. 

He did know, however, that Lance would have an entire family beside him. They would get through this together, support him in anything he needed. They owed him at least that much for all he had done for them. 

He and Allura called a meeting immediately in the bridge, detailing an extraction plan, a rescue mission for their blue paladin. They were going to get him back, after much too long. 

It was a simple mission, using the red, yellow and green lions. The green lion would be the one to land on the ship, its cloaking technology giving them the advantage to enter without a problem. Shiro and Pidge would infiltrate it and get Lance. It was up to Keith and Hunk to keep the fighters busy using their lions. The castle was only to engage if things started to go sideways, otherwise they were to be at the nearest moon, under cover. 

Once everyone was aware of their part in the plan, it was time to head out. Shiro was not about to waste anymore time now that they had a solid chance of getting Lance. Everyone returned to their rooms to get ready and immediately head to their respective hangars.


	5. Five

Lance awoke again, chained to a bed in the all too familiar lab. Knowing all too well where he was.  
He knew what he would see if he were to allow his eyes to follow where the IV in his arm led to. He knew the exact layout of the lab he was in. Knew which tools were out and which ones they would likely use. Knew the feeling of his limbs. heavy with whatever drugs they were pumping him with, being strapped down just in case. He knew he wouldn’t be able to fight back, they knew it too. But if these experiments they had been doing taught them anything, it was that these so called scientists knew absolutely nothing about human biology. 

They didn’t think he would fight back at all, or maybe they did. He didn’t really know. He knew he didn’t look like he would, he had always been a person of words rather than actions, talking himself out of or through situations. Situations in which his words were all that was left. But here, words meant death. 

Not for him, no, he wasn’t afraid of death. Not anymore. This was war, he was fighting in a war. And people die in war. He’d seen it. More importantly, for many, he had caused it. And he refused to be the cause of the deaths of his friends. 

He didn’t like to dwell on that, he’d just spiral again, but he had to acknowledge the fact that he had done some royally fucked up things. Things he’d rather no one, not even his team know. Coran knew. He'd been the one to fully recruit Lance, side missions that in some cases were more important than the battles themselves. Allura knew the political half, the diplomatic half of the missions, but Coran and Lance took care of the less desirable half. The half that left whoever was in the way of the Coalition with a bullet between their eyes. 

He remembered all of them. Every single mission, every shot, every confirmed kill. They were etched into his mind with such vivid horror that they haunted his dreams every night. God, if his mamá knew what he was doing up here. If his mamá knew that he was currently strapped to a table, drugged out of his mind, bruised and beaten and bloody. Experimented on and tortured for information. 

Before he could think anymore, the door opened. He had quelled his hope long ago that his friends would be the ones on the other side, that they would be the ones storming in to save him. Instead, like every other time, a druid made their way into the room. 

“Awake now, are we?” they asked, he could hear the snarl in their voice. How he wanted to tell them off, to just keep talking until he had run out of words, he needed to. But talking meant death for his friends, he could slip up, and any information was still information. No matter how minuscule it could seem, it could still be used to bring down his friends. SO he kept his mouth shut. 

They laughed at that as they moved along the room, picking up different tools. It was all an act, Lance knew that much. He knew that whoever this was, they would have had their preferred method already decided before they even walked through the door. He just hoped he would black out soon. 

+

It took almost no time getting onto the ship, and by the sound of the comms, it seemed that Keith and Hunk were doing just fine distracting the ship. So good in fact, that it was eerily empty when Shiro and Pidge made their way on board. 

Pidge pulled out her tablet and after a few seconds of typing looked up to Shiro. “I’ve got him!” 

They followed the map on the tablet, down countless hallways, winding and turning, they were sure that without the DNA tracker, they would have gotten lost hallways ago. 

They were just about to round the last corner when something caught Shiro’s eye, and he quickly pulled the small girl back before she would walk any farther. 

“Shiro, what the h-” He cut her off by covering her mouth with his palm. He motioned with his other hand to stay quiet, and only removed his hand when she nodded in acknowledgement. 

There at the door to what Shiro guessed was Lance’s cell, stood two Galran guards, alert and ready. The more he looked at where they stood, and the hallway around him the more he had doubts about where they actually were. 

“Pidge, where are we on the map?” he asked in a hushed whisper. 

The small paladin looked up at him in confusion, “What are you talking about?” 

“Lance is a prisoner, meaning he’d be held in a cell right?” he asked, earning a nod from the green paladin. He took one more survey of where they stood before shaking his head. “This doesn’t look like a prison.” 

“Shiro, any luck? We’re kind of not doing so hot out here!” Hunk boomed over the coms, startling Pidge so much that she jumped, banging her elbow on the metal wall she was standing against. 

The sound reverberated through the hallway, earning the attention of the Galran guards.

“Who’s there?” one of them bellowed, walking towards where the sound came from. 

“I hope you have a plan,” Pidge whispered to Shiro as he pushed her behind him, simultaneously taking step forward, leaning his back on the wall. 

“Always. Whether it will work or not is a different matter.” He waited until the Galra ran to the corner he was hiding behind before shooting his hand out to grab the guard by the neck, slamming him into the wall. The first guard went down quickly, it was the second one that he had trouble with, as he began shooting the moment he turned the corner. Pidge used her bayard to loosen his hold on the gun before Shiro was able to knock the guy out with one punch. 

“Well, now that that part is done…” Hurriedly they ran over to the room, now no longer protected. Using Shiro’s Galra arm on the pad, they easily opened the door. 

“We’re in guys!” Pidge informed over the comms. 

“Get him and get out, they’re calling reinforcements in too quickly!” Keith called, out of breath as more shots were heard over the com. 

Shiro stepped into the room first, taking quick note that he was in fact right. This was no holding cell. The table in front of him housing restraints for each appendage, the cart that held bloodied devices that only made his stomach want to rise up his throat. This room was definitely not a holding cell. It was a torture chamber. And by the mass of dark red blood on the ground, it was used quite often. 

“He’s not here.” Pidge whispered in horror as Shiro continued to scan the room for any signs of their missing paladin. 

“The fuck do you mean he’s not there? I thought you said you were tracking him. Look harder.” Keith yelled, making Pidge flinch in response. 

“Cool it Keith, she’s right. He’s not here. Pidge, you got anything?” 

The Green Paladin shook her head, studying the holographic map on her wrist. “The DNA tracker says that he’s here. He should be here.” 

Shiro turned his head to look at the puddle of drying blood on the floor. He was here, Lance had been there, and the amount of blood he had lost was enough for the scanner to consider it his person. 

In that moment, Shiro had never been more terrified. Because if Lance had lost that much blood, was there any way he could have survived? He didn’t know how much blood loss was too much, but he had a sinking feeling that it was much less than what was spilled on the floor. 

“Shiro? What’s the plan?”


	6. Six

Lance was starting to get tired of waking up. Especially waking up and finding that once again he was in a new location. 

The first thing he noticed was that it was a lot brighter here than his usual room. Purple light still, but it seemed lighter. More fluorescent if that was even possible. 

The second thing he noticed was he wasn’t restrained, no he could move his arms and legs freely, and for the first time in a while he could take full inventory of himself. FInding all of his appendages in moderate working order, he let himself sit up. He took notice of his sudden wardrobe change. No longer dressed in the tattered prison garb, Lance now donned a loose black long sleeve, the material weirdly soft. A similar black material covered his legs. 

His hair was still long, but it had been washed, as had his skin, no longer weight down with sweat and grease. 

He looked around himself, taking into account his new cell. Though cell wasn’t exactly the right word for it. More like a giant glass box. The glass was frosted over so he wasn’t able to see through it. The most visibility being indistinct shapes roaming too and fro outside of his cell. 

If this was a new version of torture, Lance was most definitly not happy. 

Lance stood up from his spot on the floor just as the door opened, a door he had no idea even existed. It blended in seamlessly into the walls. An alien Lance had never seen before emerged, face still drawn to whatever was on their clipboard. When they finally looked up, they started at the sight of him. 

“Oh, you’re awake.” 

Lance looked at them with absolute confusion, they didn’t look Galra, and last thing he knew he had been held by the Galra. Unless he was completely losing it. Where was Haggar? Where was he?

“Subject 7234, Awake and responsive.” They said into what Lance could only guess was a recorder, though it didn’t resemble any device he had ever seen before. Lance watched as another being of the same species walked in pushing a cart with what looked like a bunch of medical equipment. 

“Whoa whoa whoa, what do you think you’re doing?” 

They didn’t answer, the one with the cart picked up a syringe and started walking towards Lance. Oh no, not again.

Lance was all flailing limbs and punches thrown, being held down by three of those whatever the fucks they were. The second he had started fighting the clipboard one called in a group to help settle him. 

Clipboard and Syringe, as Lance decided to call them, stood eerily still while Lance struggled against the group trying to hold him down. He fought and screamed, and may have knocked out one, but to no avail as they pinned him on the ground and he felt the familiar prick of a needle on his arm. 

Almost immediately, Lance felt his body go limp. His muscles refusing to exert even the most miniscule movements. He watched through tired eyes as the group removed themselves from him and quietly filed out of the room. 

Lane lay there, motionless, chest heaving as his lungs struggled to find the oxygen they needed. He could do nothing but watch as Syringe walked back to the cart, depositing the used needle, before retrieving another. This was going to be a long quintant. 

\+ 

Burning. Everything was burning. His skin, his muscles, his blood. He wanted to scream, cry out, to beg for someone - anyone- to make it stop but his lips refused to open. His tongue refused to move, and his eyes refused to open. 

He didn’t know where he was, what had caused him to feel this. He just wanted it over. 

He wanted to tear his shirt off, to douse himself in cool water, but his limbs refused to move. 

This was worse than the hottest summers he had endured in Cuba. At least then he could relieve the heat with the cool waves of the ocean. 

The ocean. 

He missed the ocean. He missed the smell of the salt, missed the feel of the spray against his skin, missed the warmth of the sun, and the burning of the sand between his toes. 

It didn’t hurt then. 

It was home. 

This was not the burning of the sun heated sand. This was worse. There was no ice cream or juice or lemonade to cool him. There was no ocean to swim in. There was no fan he could sit in front of. There was just this. 

Just this burning. 

Burning. 

It hurt so much. Too much. Why did they do this? What did they do? Who were they? Who was he? 

Was this just who he was? Eternally bound by this burning, existing only in pain. 

Home. He just wanted to go home. 

“Please” 

\+ 

His body was awake before he was. His mind holding on to the last bit of sleep it could before jumping full bodies into consciousness. Before accepting the burning that still riddled his body. He was shaking, he could feel it, but any other movement beyond it was almost impossible. If it didn’t hurt, which everything hurt, then it wouldn’t move. 

For a split second he let the fear consume him that maybe he didn’t have a body anymore. That he couldn’t move because there was nothing to move. But logic set in quickly, if it hurt this much, then it had to be there. There was no way it wasn’t. 

He could feel himself become more conscious with every second, his senses kicking in. The light above his still closed eyes burned through his lids, whatever he lay on was hard, metal maybe, but not cool. His mouth felt dry, and his throat raw. 

His hearing was the last to kick in, picking up the various sounds of what was around him. The constant humming of the electricity, the door opening, the sound of footsteps approaching. 

He knew them before they said anything, before their voice could give them away. 

“Subject 7234, brainwaves indicate awake, however the subject has failed to exhibit signs of responsiveness. Dose 3 remains a success and was readily accepted by the subject's body. Dose 4 will be administered in 3 quintants.” 

The voice got closer, and even if he wanted to shy away from them, he couldn’t. 

“Fever is still high, 39.5 C, but has ceased climbing. Heart rate….” 

Lance could feel himself be pulled under another wave, the rest of Clipboard’s remarks falling on his deaf ears as he dropped into another wave of unconsciousness. 

Only one statement made it through the fog of his mind. One that haunted his dreams, playing on a never ending loop, making his stomach drop more with every word. 

“Project Leo will soon have its first successful trial.”


	7. Seven

The team was falling apart. 

Shiro knew this, Allura knew this, hell the mice knew this. After their failed recovery mission, they were back to square one with no idea where to even start. 

At first they were able to drown themselves in work. Doing whatever they could to find their paladin, but after so long of coming up with nothing, work didn’t offer enough. 

It didn’t allow them the grace it once had, it didn't sooth their minds of the grief, it didn’t give them a crutch to hold on to. 

No one was okay. 

It shouldn’t have surprised Shiro how much the disappearance of their blue paladin affected everyone on the ship. Lance was a light in this war, somehow able to put aside whatever he was dealing with, which the leader knew must be a lot, to help and support everyone else. 

Everyone called Shiro space dad, but he was starting to think that maybe that title should have been given to the person who pushed to make this team a family. Lance made Voltron a family. 

All too often was the Black Paladin finding bitter memories of the boy. The times when he knew he was being too strict about training, or pushing Lance to do better in a way that would have no other outcome but retaliation. He found himself wishing he had done everything differently. Wished he had been nicer, more understanding, more leader-like. Wished he hadn’t been so quick to shoot down his ideas or jump to the other paladins’ sides in an argument that was probably no more than harmless bickering. 

He wished he had paid more attention during the mission. 

Some nights he found himself wide awake, mind unable to stop replaying that mission. At first he accepted it as punishment for the neglect of the Blue Paladin, but was quick to pull himself out of that. It was selfish to believe that this was his punishment, earned and dealt to him by the universe when it was Lance who was suffering. 

Was he still suffering? Or was it over? There was too much blood to believe he could still be alive. He had been gone for so long, endured so much. Was it so wrong to hope that he was? Shiro knew the horribleness from capture. The druids haunted him. If Lance was...gone...he wouldn’t have to deal with the same trauma Shiro carried. He wouldn’t wake up from the nightmares, wouldn’t have the memories. 

But he was supposed to go home. Lance was supposed to go home, and Shiro had made a vow that he would bring each and every kid home. 

He didn’t want to break that vow. 

It might not be up to him. 

Many nights, when he found his mind to be much too loud, he took walks around the ship. To anyone who asked, he’d say he was patrolling, making sure everyone was safe and asleep. He knew it was bullshit. He just couldn’t keep himself cooped up in his dark room. Lance knew that too. 

It wasn’t uncommon for Shiro and Lance to cross paths. The younger on his way to or from Blue, or getting a midnight snack. It worried Shiro the first few times. Concerned that he wasn’t getting enough sleep. He had voiced such to the boy one night. 

“Your performance will suffer in the long run, you need to take better care of yourself.” in hindsight it probably wasn’t the best thing to say, but in the beginning when training and fighting were still new he had meant it. They couldn’t afford to be less than on top of their shit. 

He heard Lance take a heavy sigh. 

“You’re right, sorry.” 

Lance turned to return to his room, but stopped when he felt a hand wrap around his wrist. 

“Lance, are you okay?” 

Lance turned to Shiro, a little confused at the question. He stopped himself from mumbling the generic ‘I’m fine’ when he saw the genuine concern on Shiro’s face, making him reconsider. 

“Not really, but um Coran is helping me so-” 

“You know you can talk to me, if you need anything.”   
Lance gave Shiro that trademark cocky smile, but this one was unsettling, it proved that at least a number of the ones in the past were just like this one. A mask. 

“Thanks man, really. Think we should both go to bed though. You know, can’t have the Legendary Black Paladin and Resident ninja sharpshooter off their game.” He said, throwing up finger guns and he walked back to his room, effectively ending the conversation. 

Shiro didn’t move from that spot for a few minutes. Replaying the conversation, Lance’s expressions over in his head. The fact that he was so easily able to admit his current state was more concerning to Shiro than if he had just deflected. 

Was Lance ever okay? 

Shiro wondered this as he once again found himself walking the halls. Only coming to a stop when he heard a muffled sob. He stopped walking, straining his ears to find the source of the cry. For a few seconds he heard nothing, chalking it up to either him hearing things or the mice squeaking like they do. But that soon changed when it came again, front he room he had stopped just in front of. 

It took a few moments for it to register that the room in question was Lance’s. 

Hesitantly, he stepped towards it, knowing that the room should be empty. It had been empty for weeks. 

The doors normally locked, slid open with ease when he walked in range of the sensors. 

On the bed, wrapped in the blue blankets and quilts that Lance had no doubt picked up from any one of the various planets they had visited, was the last person Shiro would have expected. 

Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, a double feature???? not really, the literary gods just decided to grace me with the motivation to continue writing this week. Sooooooo here ya'll go. I was going to hold off on posting because I wanted to space them out but like, lets be honest I probably would have forgotten it was even written, and I refuse to be caught slippin!!


	8. eight

Lance had been awake for four days. 

Four days and they hadn’t come in, they hadn’t done anything to him. He figured it was only four days, but in reality who fucking knew? He slept, woke up, was injected with things, had samples taken from him, then repeat. 

Samples. Every sample they took was something different. Blood, skin, spinal fluid. Places he knew should not have been punctured by a needle, were. He didn’t know what they needed them for, but whatever they were for, couldn’t be good. 

He was bigger now, a different kind of bigger. His muscle more defined though from the reflection he could make out from in frosted glass, he was still lean. Maybe he was taller, taller than his 5’11. His legs hurt much the same as they did when he first hit his growth spurt at 14. 

His hair was still long, but had been taken care of. It wasn’t as soft as he normally liked it, and was significantly longer, but he could tell that some care was taken with it. 

He still wore the same outfit as the first time he had woken up in this box, but from the pleasant scent and softness of the fabric, he knew that they replaced them rather often. 

They took care of him, and while yea, he was grateful for that, it unsettled him. Because it meant that they needed him, in good health, comfortable, happy. The Galra didn’t seem like the type to want to keep their prisoners happy. So why were they striving for it? What did they want? What were they using him for? 

Lance had been awake for four days straight, and no one had even come in to check on him. 

Sure, they had slid him his meal trays, which were 5 stars compared to the meals he had been given in the Galra prison. But that was it. No Clipboard coming in with their recorder, no Syringe strolling in with their cart. He almost missed them. 

He was alone, only the movement he could barely make out from the frosted glass assured him that they hadn’t completely forgotten about him. 

He hated that. 

Hated that he relied on them. That he craved their attention. He hated them. They had done this to him. Had taken him and done God knows what to him, only to leave him for days on end. 

He would kill them. 

He was an experiment to them. A labrat, worth nothing more than their results. THey would kill him if he failed. He didn’t even know what he was failing. No, he wasn’t failing. Clipboard had said that he would be their first success. How many had failed? Failed at what? WHat were they trying to do? What experiment was so vital to them that they would require a paladin of Voltron? Did they even know that they had a Paladin? Or was that why he was spared.   
Maybe they did know. Maybe whatever they needed, it required him. 

The thought made him shiver. 

If that were the case, then why him? What did they need from him? 

He would find out. He would learn exactly what they were doing, he would get out of this room, this box. Would find exactly what they were looking for, and he’d stop them. 

He’d do everything in his power to stop them. 

No, he would stop them. 

Maybe they thought they were punishing him by giving him days on end with absolutely no contact. And while yes, he felt like he was going insane to the highest degree, he also knew that they accidentally gave him the perfect time to plan out his escape. 

He knew he was stronger, he just didn’t know how much. Could he shatter the glass with one punch? Maybe. Could he break the door off of its hinges? Quite possibly. But he didn’t know for sure. He’d have to wait. Wait for whoever was the next to come in and torment him with their stoic expressions and silent mouths. 

He’d wait, and get them right when they didn’t expect it. 

It unsettled him, how quickly he was able to justify his aggression towards him, but at the same time he knew as wrong as it felt, it wasn’t. 

They had taken him, used him, done things to him. They had made him into a carbon copy of Shiro, for their own personal gain. Maybe they had made him worse than Shiro. Maybe Shiro had been saved from this. 

Sure he fought for his life in the arena day after day, they had taken his arm from him and his memories. He still had trouble with that. But Lance, he remembered everything. If he was awake for it, which he most likely was, he would remember it. If he felt it, he remembered it. If he dreamed it, he would remember it. Maybe taking Shiro’s memories was a grace in disguise. Lance couldn’t imagine his hero having to go through this and remember every second. 

But he didn’t, his brain reminded him. 

Shiro didn’t have to spend days on end wondering if they had gotten tired of him. Wondering if the lack of information would kill him. Shiro was forced to fight physically, Lance had to fight against his mind while his body failed him. 

They weren’t the same. They would never be the same. Shiro would be Shiro and Lance would be Lance. 

But Shiro broke out. And Lance would too. 

\+ 

It had been nine days since Lance had last seen Clipboard. They had come in five days- days?- sleeps, after Lance had woken for good. 

In those nine days after, Lance had formulated his plan. 

And that was exactly how he found himself in this situation. 

Running down the hall in nothing but his black pants. His shirt he had discarded after the initial break out from the room. The box as he liked to call it. It was too bloodied from the acts he allowed himself to commit to get out of there. The shattered glass, the slaughtered bodies of the scientists around him haunted his mind the farther from the room he got. 

There were only two things, he was certain of in that moment as he hid behind a corner, listening for the guards that were no doubt after him. 1, he was getting the fuck out of there, and 2, whatever they did to him, he couldn’t fully control. 

His reflexes were lightning quick. A simple thought turned into a deadly act. His hand acted on his own, and he needed to control them. The longer he fought, the more he could. But the fact that the first few lives he had taken were completely on his own accord unsettled him. 

So he waited.Waited until the two guards passed the corner before he let himself be overcome with the need to survive. Not a second later did he find himself jamming the scalpel into the ge guard’s neck. He didn’t wait for him to fall before moving to the next, slamming his head into the wall once, then twice, easily putting the guard into a situation to be disarmed. Something that Lance did easily, grabbing the gun and shooting once at the newly downed guard, then once at the once bleeding out on the floor. 

Both of his shots hit their mark. Both of his marks being right between the eyes. 

He took one second to process wha he had done, then shut his logical mind down. He would get out, and him thinking too much about what he let himself do would hinder that. So he kept going. 

He kept going after mowing down a group of living Galra guards. 

He kept going after he sniped three security officers. 

He kept going after shooting a scientist in the head, one who had tried to talk him down and calmly bring him back to his room. 

The box he refused to return to. 

No, they would have to kill him. 

And he would not let them. 

He didn’t stop until he had shot his way onto a pod. Forced a Galra at gunpoint to start the pod, and waited until they had gone three galaxies over before ejecting their now dead body into the vacuum of space. 

He had made it. 

But had fallen so far to do so. 

\+ 

It wasn’t until after the fifth planet he had freed that he finally caught word of Voltron. The Lions specifically. 

Apparently since he had been gone, which had now spanned a year and three months, Voltron had yet to be seen complete. The red and black lions, yellow and green could be seen freeing planets system after system, but the blue lion never flew. His Blue never flew. 

He was so close. They were so close. 

He would find them, if it was the last thing he did. And he didn’t plan on dying anytime soon.

It was another month before he finally was able to locate their coordinates, and he wasted no time in heading their way. 

He almost didn’t believe his eyes when the castle came into view. 

Its white majesticness a stark contrast to the deadly black background of space that surrounded it. 

Home. 

Lance had finally, after a year and five months, made it back to his team.   
And boy, did they need him back. 

Lance was finally home.


	9. nine

There was no party when he made it back. No celebration, no hugs. God he missed hugs. 

The first time he noticed something was wrong was when he got within range of hailing the castle. Coran or Allura should have been instantly alerted about his pod entering their area. But his calls received none in response. 

The second thing he noticed was during his approach to the castle, not once was a shot fired at him. Not once did he fear the castle might accidentally shoot him down. He entered the hangar with no problem, and that put him even more on edge. 

Something was most certainly wrong. 

He exited the main hangar without issue, making his way down the long winding hallways of the castle. Not a sound of the others reaching his ears. 

It had been a while since he had last been in the castle, yet as he walked farther and farther, it became as familiar as if he had just walked this same path yesterday. 

It was almost as if he could hear the laughter from the lounge room, hear the bickering in the control room. But as he approached each room, all he found were the memories rather than the team he had fought so hard to find. 

Where were they? 

Why would they leave the castle so defenseless? 

They wouldn’t. 

Lance walked into the control room, pistol ready, and made his way to the main control panel. 

Every Lion was still in their hangar, as apparent by the readings from the castle, which meant that they were here. But something had happened. 

If only he could get the castle security cameras up and running. Apparently he needed a password, and though he most definitely was no hacker. So he resigned himself to having to find them the old fashion way. 

Gun cocked and ready, Lance stalked through the castle towards the training room and kitchen. He quickly checked to see how many bullets he had left, 4. 

This was going to be interesting.

He was ready for the first Galra, not a second’s hesitation before the body hit the ground. He quietly stepped over him and decided to head down the hallway the now dead Galra had come from. 

There were two more on his way to the kitchen. Speaking about something Lance had no interest in hearing. He needed to find the team. Lance leveled his gun with ease and two more shots hit their mark. Two more bullets were spent before their victims had even the slightest clue. 

He turned the corner to the hallway to the kitchen and stopped, immediately hiding behind the corner. 

Straining his ears to hear whatever the Galra in front of the room was saying, he cocked and recocked his gun. One bullet left. Better make it count. 

He could hear Keith cursing, Shiro and Hunk’s heavy breathing. 

Three, only three were here. He had to find the others. 

He chanced a quick glance around the corner, eyes falling past the Galra soldier and landing on the group of paladins he stood over. Fear and determination in their eyes. But all of them had been knocked down, splatters of blood covered their armor. Lance guessed any one of them had a number of injuries. 

Maybe all of them. 

There were three other galra surrounding the paladins. None looking his way, but rather at the ground where the paladins sat. 

No, where Keith and Hunk sat. Shiro was the one that was hurt. 

Lance almost wondered why Keith hadn’t gone complete apeshit yet. Shiro was his brother, and anyone who would give Shiro the slightest paper cut could count on being decked mercilessly by the younger.

He soon found the reason why, not only was the red paladin cradling his right arm, but his bayard and knife sat on opposite ends of the hallway. Honestly, what was the point in having two weapons if you were just going to lose them?  
Keith opened his mouth, probably to say some stupid threat that everyone knew he wouldn’t be able to follow through, and Lance took the opportunity. 

No one noticed the sound of the gunshot until the bullet had connected with its target. The Galra in front of Keith landed face first on the floor. 

Lance took the few seconds the disorientation had caused to the group to holster his gun. 

He looked around the hall and caught sight of a pipe leading up the wall, he desperately hoped it wouldn’t lead to anything important as he wretched it from the wall with way too much ease and stalked towards the group. 

“Lance?” He didn’t let himself register the way Keith’s voice spoke his name. Rather he channeled all of his focus into taking these damn Galra down. 

Two ran towards him while the third stood guard, pushing Keith down when he tried to get up. 

“Time to put all of those baseball practices to good use.” Lance thought, raising the makeshift weapon. 

The first hit made a sickening crushing sound, the Galra immediately falling to the ground. Lance took the momentum the pipe had gained and slammed it down, the metal going straight through his enemy’s skull. 

He wretched it out of the body and turned his attack on the now stunned second soldier, talking his knees out first. Once, then twice, then thrice Lance brought the pipe to the soldier’s head, each one shattering the victim’s skull more and more. 

He took two more hits just to be sure, grabbing the gun that they had dropped and leveled it to the third and last Galra. 

“Who sent you?” he asked, anger dripping from his words. 

The Galra, though staring with wide eyes, said nothing. 

Now that just wouldn’t do. Lance pointed the gun down a little and pulled the trigger, the shot connecting with his enemy’s shin. 

“I said” Lance stalked forward, seeing red as he got closer, “who. sent. you.” 

“I-I-I..” 

Lance pointed his gun to the other leg, finger on the trigger. 

“Haggar, Haggar did, I swear! It was the Witch!” 

Lance almost smiled. So she caught word of his escape, trying to bring her pet home huh? Now why would she want to do that? 

He lowered the gun a moment, inhaling a deep breath of the circulated recycled air that he had grown so accustomed to. 

Lance watched as the soldier relaxed a little, believing he was finally out of danger. The moment was gone in an instant when Lance raised the gun once more, he heard the gasp from Hunk but refused to let his brain acknowledge it. 

“Please, I’ll answer anything, I’ll-” 

Lance didn’t give him the time to finish, the shot colliding with the begging Galra’s forehead. 

“So much for victory or death.” Lance turned to the three paladins, apparently at one point Shiro had awoken and was leaning against Keith. 

“L-Lance?”  
\+ 

They were able to get Shiro in a pod quick enough. Keith and Hunk had only minor injuries, ones Lance easily bandaged up. 

“Any idea where the rest of them are?” Lance asked, wrapping one of Keith’s hands. 

Hunk shook his head, “you’re guess is as good as mine.” 

Lance huffed, this was going to be a long night? Day? Whatever. 

He finished his work and stood up, wiping his hands on his pants. “Alright, let's go find them.” was all he said as he grabbed the rifle he had stolen from the Galra and made his way out of the healing room. Hunk and Keith right behind him. 

“So, what’s the plan?” Keith asked hurriedly, trying to keep up with Lance’s steps. 

The question caused Lance to halt in his tracks, looking down to his friend, “Uhh how about, kill the bad guys and don’t get shot?” 

He heard Hunk scoff at that, “Was that your plan when you came and rescued us?”  
“As a matter of fact, hermano,” Lance cocked his eyebrow at the yellow paladin, “It was, and I don’t hear anyone complaining about it.” 

He was so surprised when Hunk wrapped his arms around him, that he almost launched the poor guy. It took a second for his brain to recognize the act. A hug, his brain supplied, and he instantly returned it, hugging his best friend. 

When it seemed that Hunk wasn’t going to let Lance go, the boy laughed, bringing his hands up to tapp Hunk’s arms. “I love you too man, but we got to go help Pidge and everyone.” he whispered. 

Hunk begrudgingly let go of his friend, who turned to Keith, arms open wide. 

“You want one too before we go kick some ass.” Honestly, Lance only expected the little scoff Keith did, the enthusiastic hug was new. 

He didn’t comment on the wet spot that now graced his shoulder, or how tightly Keith clung to him, he just held the boy as close as he possibly could, “I missed you too.” he whispered into the black hair that sat below his chin. 

When Keith pulled back, he punched Lance, though lightly, in his arm. 

“Hey! What was that for?” 

“You got bigger.” Keith pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. “And for leaving, but mostly for getting bigger.” 

Lance laughed at that. Ruffling Keith's hair, which earned him a swat on the wrist. 

“Maybe you should eat more huh?” he joked. 

“At least I’m not built like a fucking tortilla chip.” Keith bit back, though any harshness was absent in his voice, replaced with something that Lance could only think of as fondness. 

Lance started walking ahead, turning his head back to look at his friends. “Well this tortilla chip just saved your guys’ ass so who’s the real winner here? Now let’s get moving, and go find our friends.”


	10. ten

It was a few vargas later when Shiro finally emerged from the pod. He didn’t know he was falling until warm hands caught his shoulders and held him up right. 

With tired eyes, Shiro allowed himself a few moments to take in his surroundings. The strong hands of Coran never left his shoulders until he brought himself up to full height. 

His return of memory wasn’t an immediate thing, he knew he had been in the pod, which meant he had been hurt. Badly. But looking around him, he noted that no one else had been in the room. Maybe they hadn’t been hurt, or at least as badly as he was. But only Coran was here, shouldn’t the rest of the team be as well? Or at least Keith. There was no way anyone would have been able to pry his brother from the spot outside his pod, so where was everyone? 

Were they okay? Did something happen? 

Yes, something did happen. 

“The team!” 

“Not to worry, Number One, everyone is in the lounge room. They’ve been eagerly waiting for you.” Coran was quick to reassure. 

Shiro nodded, not fully convinced, but he knew that once he saw that everyone was indeed alright - with his own eyes- the weight of anxiety would ease. Coran handed him a water pouch and he quickly downed it, the pods always left his mouth feeling much to dry and he was thankful that Coran had considered it. 

“How long have I been out?” He asked between sips of his second water pouch. 

Coran looked at his altean ticker, “About 4 vargas, you haven't missed very much, just cleaning.” 

Four vargas, a little more than 4 hours, not too bad. He didn’t like losing time, but at least it hadn’t been an entire day. There had been too many injuries requiring a full day or even more for the pods to heal, as of late. 

But as he thought about it, he couldn’t remember how he had ended up in a pod. 

“Coran, how did I-” 

“Lance brought you in.” 

“...Lance?”

Coran nodded, twisting his mustache rather contently as he looked over the readings from the quick scan he took of Shiro. 

“Coran, Lance has been missing for over a year..” 

“We should meet everyone in the lounge, Number one. Are you able to walk?

“I-I think so, yeah.” Shiro tested out his legs, sure that he would be able to make the quick trek to the lounge room. 

\+ 

As soon as Shiro entered the lounge, the room erupted into cheers. There were hugs everywhere and a few pats on the back, all of which he was more than happy to receive. But a certain Blue Paladin had yet to rise from his seat on one of the couches. 

Instead, he looked upon the group with a smile, one that Shiro knew all too well. The one knowing that your family is safe. Finally safe. 

Shiro waited until the rest of the Paladins had allowed him out of their grasp before stepping towards Lance. The boy stood up slowly, and Shiro noticed that Lance now hit his height. The boy stood tall, no longer hunching as he used to, his shoulders had always been broad but now it seemed like the height and no doubt muscle gain had further defined them. 

But it was his eyes that carried the most change. Bright blue, as they always had been, but they seemed to glow with a kind of light that could only be achieved with the determination of a fighter. A true fighter hell bent on surviving. 

He was right to believe that being captive would change Lance. The time spent with the Galra had not been kind to their friend, and for the first time Shiro understood. He understood the strength Lance had. The unwavering ability to not only survive a galra prison, but to escape it and return not to his home, but to Voltron. Lance escaped prison to jump right into fighting. 

Shiro was all too aware of how much he had underestimated the Blue Paladin, and he swore to those eyes that he would never do it again. They needed Lance, the Universe needed Lance. 

And just like Lance had protected them, they would protect him. 

“Good to see you awake, man.” Lance spoke, his voice no longer carried the carefree melodic tone it used too. Instead it carried a conservative air to it, as if he still wasn’t quite sure of where he stood. Shiro watched as Lance held out his hand. 

He shook his head. 

“It's good to see you here,” he said, pulling the boy into a tight hug. The action surprised Lance, but after a beat he returned the gesture. Shiro felt all of the tenseness in the boy escape as he held onto the Black paladin tightly. 

“It's good to be back.” Shiro felt more than heard Lance whisper into his shoulder. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Lance decidedly pulled away. 

As soon as they pulled away, Allura cleared her throat. 

“I’m sure that you have some questions about today’s most recent events, Shiro.” 

Shiro looked over to her and nodded, not missing the way in which Lance tense at her statement. 

Keith who had been standing close to the two paladins made a step towards Lance, the previously shy of touch Red Paladin placed his hand on Lance’s arm, seeming to calm him a bit. 

“Oh man, Shiro it was awesome!” Hunk broke into the conversation. “You should have seen it, Lance was all ‘Don’t hurt my friends’ and the Galra were all -” 

“I think that it would be best if we started from the beginning, Number Two.” Coran had returned to the room holding a tray of what Shiro could only guess was the Altean version of tea and some familiar snacks. 

The team each took their seats on the couches as the older Altean poured some tea into the tea cups. 

“Hunk, since you and Keith were both present for the whole thing, maybe you guys can start it.” Pidge said, hastily grabbing one of the cookies off the table. 

“I’ll start it, Hunk didn’t even know what was happening until Lance helped him drag Shiro to the infirmary.” 

Hunk nodded his head all too enthusiastically, “Yeah, you’re right, go for it Keith.” 

\+ 

“A pipe?!” Pidge all but screamed. 

Keith nodded, “Lance literally tore it off of the wall like it was nothing” 

“How did you know it wasn’t important or anything?” 

“I didn't,” Lance said with a grimace, “but I didn’t really have anything else, I had used my last shot for the first Galra.” 

“Yeah and then Lance went total Mike Trout on those guys!” 

“Mike who?” Shiro had never heard of that name before, nor understood what Hunk was alluding to. 

Lance laughed, “He was an old baseball player, hit a shit ton of homeruns in his career.” 

\+ 

“So how did you get to Allura and Pidge?” Shiro asked, everything he had heard so far was incredible. Lance had taken down most of the Galra who had infiltrated the castle, single handedly. 

“Oh, that was easy, on my way in I noticed no one was on the bridge or anything so I figured the second best place to look would be Allura’s side of the castle.”

“And he was right, per Coran’s suggestion, Pidge and I had barricaded ourselves in my chambers.” 

“We would have fought them, but-” 

“There was no way you guys could have taken them all down, there were literally close to 15 trying to break down Allura’s door.” Hunk was quick to reassure the Green Paladin, “Besides, it would have been impossible for Allura to have fought anyways after getting hit by that druid.” 

“A druid?” Shiro exclaimed. A druid was on this ship? And most importantly it had attacked the Princess? 

“Yeah, but Lance took care of them real quick.” Hunk said, “I don’t even think they saw it coming!” 

Lance shook his head, though the story exhibited his incredible talents, he seemed the least excited to share. Shiro understood, he was probably all too ready to forget the events. Lance likely saw his heroic acts as horrors, he knew he himself would feel the same. To take a life, no matter the situation was a heavy thing to do, and though they were the enemy, it would still weigh heavily on him. 

“They didn’t.” Lance said simply. 

\+ 

The fight Hunk had described was incredible, Lance had always been lacking in his close combat training, but now Shiro knew the reason why. 

He had previously attributed it to Lance just never really being good at fighting but it seemed like that wasn’t the case. Lance just needed an environment. 

Hand to hand, Lance would be at a disadvantage, but give the man seemingly non hostile objects and he could turn it into a weapon in a tick. Lance knew he didn’t have the physical strength to fight the Galra, but with the use of a pipe torn from a wall, or a vase on Allura’s table, or the broken leg of a chair, Lance was unstoppable. 

“Look, I wouldn’t have had to kick down the door if you had just opened it!” Lance exclaimed, though there was no hostility to his words. 

“We thought you were the Galra!” 

“I literally yelled, ‘It's me, open the door.” 

“Yeah and who exactly is supposed to be ‘me’?” Pidge chimed in. 

“Who do you think? I know you know my voice, Pidge, you’ve heard it enough times!”

“Yeah well you were gone for like a year, so what if we had opened the door and it wasn’t you?” 

“Who else would it be? I literally said that it was safe to come out now, and told you that I was breaking down the door when you didn’t.” 

“And that’s exactly what a Galra soldier would say!” Pidge was standing up now, reaching for her fifth cookie. While her other hand flew into the air excitedly. 

Allura laughed at the bickering, something she never thought she would do. But it meant that Lance was back. Their lost Blue Paladin had returned. She remembered how much she missed the noise that came with Lance, how many nights she had spent begging the universe to bring him back and claiming that she would deal with whatever arguing or incessant bickering came with him so long as he was here and safe. 

She missed this, too much. 

“Yes and now my bathroom door is off of its hinges, Lance.” Allura said, a hint of amusement in her voice. 

“I said I would fix it, didn’t I?” Lance muttered, taking a sip from his tea as he leaned back. 

“You know she’s going to hold you to that.” Keith said, shaking his head. 

“Oh I absolutely will!” 

The group laughed. Everyone noticing how easily it came now that Lance had returned. They had spent so much time without him, and now they could make up for it, and truly revel in it. The silence that had fallen upon the Paladins once he was taken now all but a memory. 

The story telling was interrupted by Hunk’s stomach growling loudly. 

“Haha, guess it's time for dinner. How do you guys feel about some space spaghetti?” 

Lance looked up at his friend, smiling brightly. “Hunk, light of my life, if there is anything I have missed, it's your cooking. Anything you make will bring me to tears at this point.” 

Hunk smiled, “You got it man!” he exclaimed before heading off to the now spotless kitchen. 

“You know he’s probably going to make a feast just because you said that, right?” Keith leaned into Lance’s side. He felt Lance laugh at that as he wrapped an arm around Keith’s shoulder. 

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear, I didn't forget about this story. I just honestly got stuck in such a writing rut for this story that I had no idea how to english for this chapter. But I did it ya'll! I made this one longer mostly bc I made you guys wait so long. hopefully the next chapter won't give me as much trouble. 
> 
> As always please don't forget to press that Kudos button and Comment! I love seeing your guys' comments on this story! See ya'll in the next one!


	11. eleven

It had been a few weeks since Lance had returned, and though everyone wanted desperately to know how exactly he had escaped, they knew that it was a subject that they couldn’t pry on. There was no doubt that he had been through a lot, despite his best efforts to hide it. They all saw his eyes when he would get lost in his head, how empty they could be. They all heard his screams from the nightmares that plagued his nights. They all saw with how much ease he now was able to take down the training bots. 

Captivity had taken its toll on their friend, and so they knew that when (or if) he ever did want to talk about it, it would have to be on his own terms. 

Everyone was hesitant to perform missions, Lance included. It was a mission that Lance had been taken on, and though he hated those who had done this to him, he was much more comfortable never having to fight again. 

But he was a Paladin of Voltron. A Defender of the Universe. So fight he would have to do. 

Thankfully, Allura had proposed a week of rest for the Paladins, the previous events no doubt would hinder their mission successes. 

However, everyone knew that their relaxation would come to an end. They had a war to fight after all. So when Allura announced that they would resume missions, nobody was too excited about it. In all honesty, Allura wasn’t either, but work had to be done. 

It would be a simple mission, focusing on freeing a current trading port of a Galra blockade. The port was a vital part to the coalition as without it, many planets would not be able to receive the food and necessary equipment for rebuilding their civilizations. The planet that operated the port had yet to be under fire, but their surplus of resources made them a target for the Galra Empire. The blockade had been put in place due to the planet’s (officially named Nixardi 5) refusal to work with the empire. 

“Alright guys, let's get to bed early tonight. We’ll meet at 0900 tomorrow morning on the bridge to go over the more pressing details of the mission.” Shiro announced, officially excusing everyone from dinner. 

Lance made his way to his room, desperately needing a shower after today’s intense training session. He had even put in some hours in the range, so to say that he was completely exhausted was an understatement. He was so caught up in his exhaustion that he hadn’t heard the footsteps behind him, nor noticed the shorter Paladin catch up to him. 

“Hey Lance, you going to be okay?” Keith asked, falling into step with him. 

It amused Lance how out of his shell Keith had gotten since he had returned. Though Keith remained ever the emo, he was a lot more willing to initiate not only conversation but contact as well. Lance had previously though Keith hated physical contact, or at least had a strong disdain for it. But more and more he found him reaching out to Lance. 

It was nice. Different from the attitude Keith previously held. 

“Yeah, I’m fine, why?” 

Keith shrugged, “I mean, it's your first mission back.” 

Lance thought about this for a moment. Clearly his own apprehensions about the mission weren’t as hidden as he thought they were. 

He sighed. 

“Yeah, if I’m being honest, I’m a little nervous about it.” he said. “But if I’m being honest, Allura wouldn’t let me go along if she didn’t think that I was ready.” 

Keith dragged one of his hands through his hair. He obviously didn’t like the idea any more than Lance did. 

“What about you, though? Are you okay with it?” 

Lance smiled, “Don’t worry about me, Mullet. I’ll be fine.” They came to a stop outside Lance’s room. “You want to come in?” 

Keith crossed his arms, a smirk forming on his lips. “Didn’t Shiro say we’re supposed to be going to bed?” 

“Well, yeah. I was planning on it but um-” 

“Nightmares?” 

“Yeah.” Lance blushed. It wouldn’t be the first time he had gone to Keith for comfort after one of his nightmares. Normally Lance would have gone to Hunk, but with new relationship development between them, he found that going to Keith helped a lot more. 

As much as he loves his best friend, he knew that Keith wouldn’t ask questions. He wouldn’t try and get Lance to talk about it. If Lance wanted to, he would but most of the time he didn’t, and he was thankful that Keith understood that and instead sat with him in comfortable silence. 

“Let me go get my pajamas on.” 

\+ 

That night Lance woke in a sweat. Oxygen refused to enter his lungs despite his desperate attempt to force it. He found himself curled into the corner of his bed, hands grasping tightly in his hair as he tried and failed to even out his breath. 

“Lance, Lance its okay. You’re okay.” He couldn’t place to voice. Who was here, who was with him? 

The darkness that filled his vision was all to familiar, he was back in the prison. He never left. They never transferred him. He had always been here. It had been a dream. 

“No, no Lance. It's not a dream. You’re here, you’re in the castle. You’re safe.” The voice said, Lance shook his head. 

No, they had done this before. They had made him believe he was home, that his friends had come to get him, only for the pain of what ever they were doing to him to overcome him. 

It was too dark. Too dark, too dark. 

He felt whatever he was on shift and before he knew it the room was flooded with light. The surface he was on shifted again to accommodate newly added weight as the owner of the voice moved towards him. 

“Lance, look at me.” Keith rubbed his hands together before bringing them to Lance’s ears, softly rubbing his fingers against each other twice and placing them on the side of Lance’s face. “You are safe, Lance. You’re safe.” he said using his thumbs to draw light circles on Lance’s temples. 

He knew the action would calm Lance down, it was an action that apparently Lance’s mom had done a few times after her son woke from a nightmare. It took only a few ticks until Lance had finally calmed down enough to sufficiently bring in air into his lungs. 

That was when the tears fell. 

Keith held Lance as he cried into the smaller’s shoulder, murmmurings of apologies in spanish breaking the sobs that racked his entire being. All Keith could to was hold him and run his hands through the soft and much too long chocolate hair. 

It took ten minutes until Lance had finally cried himself out. Keith was glad when the sobbs had turned into quiet hiccups. He hated hearing Lance cry, hated hearing the soft breaking of his friend. It tore at him. 

He felt Lance relinquish all ability to keep himself upright, so Keith manuvered them to lay back down. Lance still clutched to Keith’s shirt, obviously needing it to ground him as they lay in silence. Returning his hand to stroke Lance’s hair, Keith decided that the silence was much too heavy and began humming quietly. 

\+ 

They didn’t get much sleep that night, and though tired they got ready for the day’s mission without hesitation. 

They met everyone on the bridge in full armor. Allura was right in her comment about the mission being simple. Really all they were doing was attack the ships that refused to leave, and stay long enough afterwards to escort a few ships put of the system just in case some straggling Galra ships decided to attack the unarmed cargo ships. 

Voltron was ready for their first mission since Lance had returned, and though Keith really didn’t want Lance to go, he knew it would have to be. Lance was strong but whatever his nightmare had been last night shook him to his core enough to almost send him into a complete panic attack. 

No matter how much Lance claimed he was okay, which that morning had been quite a lot, Keith couldn’t shake the idea that he was pushing himself too fast. 

Lance made his way to Blue, it hadn’t been the first time since he’d returned that he got to see her, or fly her for that matter, but the excitement had never subsided. He missed her, his best girl. And he knew she missed him as well. 

_ My Paladin.  _

“Morning Blue, ready to kick some Galra ass?” 

_ Always! _

He climbed in and headed to the cockpit. The familiar blue light met him as he took his seat and turned on the controls. 

Taking a deep breath, Lance cleared his mind of all the anxieties the previously had, a feat easily achieved thanks to the waves of comfort Blue was sending him. 

“Alright girl, let’s make em wish they hadn’t woken up this morning!” 

And with that, Blue stood up and flew out of the still opening doors of her hangar. 

They met the others on a moon close to the planet. Shiro gave his orders to each of the Lion-Paladin pairs and off they were to go free the trading port. 

\+ 

Lance was surprisingly doing incredibly well. He manuvered Blue perfectly. Never missed a shot with Blue’s cannons, and when Shiro finally called for them to form Voltron, Lance and Blue joined effortlessly. 

It seemed that the only time in which Lance was relaxed enough to clear his mind was when he was fighting, and though it unsettled him he didn’t let himself dwell on it for too long. With a final slice of Voltron’s sword, the last ship that had yet to retreat exploded into flames and debris. 

“Alright team, now lets go help those cargo ships!” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, two chapters in one day! Absolutely unheard of. Anyways, enjoy guys! Also if any of you noticed the way that Keith calmed Lance down, I got it from a movie so bonus points if you can name that movie. 
> 
> As always please remember to hit that Kudos Button and don't forget to Comment!


	12. twelve

“No.” 

Allura took a deep breath, bringing her fingers up to pinch the bridge of her nose as she tried to reign in her anger. It had been a back and forth for quitants, and she was getting absolutely no where. She had no idea he could be this stubborn, but then again when had he ever really had to be this stubborn. 

“Lance, I understand your apprehension.” 

“You don’t understand shit, Allura. Otherwise you wouldn’t be asking me this over and over again!” his voice reverberated through the infirmary. He had been holed up in it for days, Coran stating that he had been a great help in organizing and cleaning the room. Though she was grateful for the work he was doing, she knew that he did it to get out of one vital part of paladin training. 

Team bonding. 

Though up until now, she didn’t really have a problem with it. He had been distant ever since he had returned and though it worried her, Coran assured her that he had been through a lot and it was time that he needed. 

However over time, it seemed that the rift had grown larger, and Allura was concerned that if such a thing continued it could affect the team’s ability to form Voltron. Things needed to change. 

Which of course brought her here, to the present situation. 

“Lance, I’m only trying to do what’s best for the team.” she reasoned. It was true, they needed to be able to trust one another. They needed to be a team again. 

“So am I!” It was clear that Lance had gotten more hostile since his captivity, but Allura had never seen him angry until now. 

What did they do to him? She wondered. 

Or was it always there? 

Everything else about him had been the same. Sure he was bigger now, his hair longer, his speed faster, his strength stronger. But his eyes were the same. They were still the same scared blue eyes of a young boy who had seen too much. She wished she had listened to those eyes then, all those years ago when she first looked into them after falling out of her cryopod. She wished she had saved him from all of this, had sent them all home and forced the lions to take on new paladins, older ones who were familiar with this war. 

But she didn’t. 

Alas, all she could do was attempt to pick up the broken pieces and help her paladins put themselves back together again. She needed them. The universe needed them. And they needed each other. 

“Allura, please, just drop this okay. You want us to bond as a team, fine. I’ll do whatever you ask of me, but not this!” The desperation in his voice was not lost on the Altean. Though she couldn’t understand as to why. Why was he so desperate to stop this? Why did he not want to do this? 

“Lance, I sincerely apologize, but in order to work as a team, we must all be willing to do everything in our power-” 

“Have I ever given you a reason to question my spot on the team, Allura? Have I ever, ever asked you for anything other than this?” 

The question shocked the princess to say the least. Lance was genuinely serious about this, and he was never serious. So why was he so adamant about this? 

“Lance, I don’t understand why-” 

“Exactly, you don’t understand Allura. You weren’t there. You weren’t held in a cell, and experimented on. Please just let it go. I’ll give you anything you want but not that.” And with that, the blue paladin exited the room. Leaving Allura stunned in complete silence. 

\+ 

It didn’t take long for Shiro to find him. After missing dinner, the Black paladin knew that something was up with Lance. 

It only furthered that notion after the conversation with Allura. Apparently Lance had been very much against the mindmeld exercise. An argument ensued and Allura had felt that Shiro was really the only one who could get through to him. 

Shiro understood. He had been held in captivity by the Galra. He had undergone countless tortures by them, and though his memory was a bit hazy, he understood why Lance would want to abstain from the exercise. 

But he also understood why he shouldn’t. 

So he walked. Down the many corridors and through familiar hallways until he found the room he was most certain would contain the Blue paladin. 

He typed in the code and waited for the doors to whoosh open. Inside was exactly who he expected. Lance, the Blue paladin. He had grown considerably since his capture. Now reaching Shiro’s own height of 6ft 3. The gain of muscle was hard to ignore, and his stature was definitely different from when he had last been in the castle before his capture. Shiro knew this all too well, though he had seldom thought about Lance having to deal with it. 

Lance stood at the counter, firearm in hand as he stared down the many targets. Shiro took the time to admire the sight. Lance fully engrossed in his element was much different from regular Lance. He had a different kind of light in his eyes, a different way of carrying himself. He reminded Shiro very much of the warriors of old he was told of as a young child. 

He held the same fire in his eyes, though reigned in, there was no doubt that it was there. The same fierceness that held captive all those who gazed upon it. He was a true warrior, Shiro knew. Having endured the horrors of capture, Lance would no doubt have been forced to face way too much for the human conscience. 

So Shiro waited until lance was done with his firearm training. It had become apparent after a while that once Lance had returned this was one of the places he found comfort in, this and the infirmary. If Lance was missing, you could count on him being in one of those two places. 

Once he had deemed Lance as finished, Shiro coughed to make his presence known, though he wawa sure that Lance had known about his presence since he had walked into the room.

Lance placid his gun on the counter and removed his mufflers and earphones before turning to the Black Paladin. 

“Shiro, I swear to God if Allura sent you-” 

“Allura didn’t send me,” he reassured quickly. Though it seemed that the tension in Lance’s body was still ever present. “Can we...talk?” 

Lance looked at him apprehensively. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Lance steeled himself for the coming scolding. When he opened them, he was met by Shiro’s curious ones. 

He set the gun down on the counter and made his way over to the bench across from him. 

“Alright, talk.” 

Shiro was surprised. He was sure that the second he mentioned it, Lance would have hightailed it out of the room. He genuinely hadn’t expected to get this far. 

“Shiro?” Lance questioned, taking a seat on the bench with a water bottle in hand. 

“Uhh right. I spoke to Allura, but she didn’t send me, I came of my own accord.” 

“Yeah, you already said that.” Lance interjected. 

“Right.” 

“Look man, save your breath. I’m not going to do the mindmeld. Nothing you can say is going to change that.” 

“Lance, don’t you think you’re being a little unreasonable?” 

Lance laughed at that. A hollow laugh that sounded nothing like the ones that invertebrates through the halls. 

“Unreasonable? The only ones being unreasonable are you guys. I’m sorry, Shiro, but I can’t do it.” 

“Lance, you do realize that by opting out of this, you put the entire team in jeopardy.” Shiro tried to keep his voice level, he really did, but with every passing word he could feel himself getting more angry. 

Lance was acting like a child. 

“Please, just hear me out. We haven’t been acting like a team at all lately. Splitting off, isolating, it isn’t working.” 

“And how is that my fault, Shiro? I mean honestly, shouldn’t you be talking to the people actually doing it?” 

Shiro sighed, “I did Lance, and they all agreed to do the mindmeld except for you.” 

Lance took a long drink from his water bottle, but otherwise seemed completely unaffected by Shiro’s announcement. The Black paladin took this as the go ahead to continue. 

“Lance, I get why you don’t want to do this. I really do. There are things that you would rather spare the team from. I commend you for that, but we need to be able to trust one another, and if that means showing them your time in the Galra prison then-”

“Just shut up Shiro! Honestly!” Lance had sprung up to his feet, his voice stopping Shiro’s as it echoed through the empty room. “You think that’s it don’t you. You think that you know what I went through, you think that we are the same.” 

“I-I” Lance took the few steps forward towards his leader. Coming face to face with the Blue paladin, Shiro could see that it wasn’t fear that was held in his eyes, but anger. A calm kind of anger that could rival a hurricane. 

“We are not the same Shiro. We were never the same. The sooner you get that through that thick skull of yours, the better.” It seemed that Lance was finished as he made a move to turn from Shiro, though he halted in his steps when a strong hand gripped his arm. 

“Lance.”

“I will never be you, Shiro. Maybe you can do the mindmeld. Maybe it doesn’t bother you. But I remember what they did. I remember everything. So forgive me for not wanting to subject Pidge, or Hunk, or even you to that” Lance took a deep breath before continuing. “They took one look at me and they already had their mind made up that I wouldn’t last two seconds in the arena. So they strapped me to a table and did whatever the fuck they wanted. They made you fight to survive, I didn’t have that luxury. 

“I was strapped to that table for months, Shiro, months! At first they wanted information but when they realized they couldn’t get me to talk they changed tactics. The drugged, and tortured, and beat me over and over again for fucking entertainment. Do you know what that’s like? Do you know how it feels to be completely useless, starved, begging for death that you knew was too kind? Because you knew that the second that you did, that they would bring you back? When you got hurt fighting, they healed you. They hurt me for enjoyment. And then when they got tired of me, they passed me off to someone else. Like I was a fucking toy.” 

His chest was rising and falling rapidly and his voice wavered the longer he talked, but those eyes, his eyes remained strong, focused. 

Shiro could do nothing but stand there in shock. Sure he had his suspicions about what the Galra had done to Lance, but it was clear that it took its toll on Lance and then some. 

Every cell in his body told him to reach out, to comfort the clearly broken boy in front of him, but when his hand made contact with Lance’s shoulder, it was harshly shrugged away. 

“I’m sorry Lance. No one should have to go through what you did... We’ll find another way.” 

Lance nodded and this time, didn’t pull away when Shiro placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder. 

They would find another way. Shiro would be sure of that. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *plays eminem* Guess who's back! 
> 
> Sorry it took so long guys, school has been absolutely crazy! but here is ch 12. Sorry its a bit of a filler chapter, but at least we get to see some Lance not having to fight for his life. 
> 
> As always please don't forget to hit that Kudos button and leave a Comment! and I'll see ya in the next one! bye


	13. thirteen

Pidge had been working day and night on those damn Galra codes. SHe had been tipped off from a few stray files that clearly had been incredibly classified. Of course seeing that something was classified was the equivalent of a challenge, so the Green Paladin took it upon herself to get as much information as she could. 

She had been holed up in her room for days. Eyes drooping in sleep deprivation and stomach growling. But she was almost there, she could just feel it. Just a few more codes. 

That was her last thought before she finally passed out on her laptop, her exhaustion getting the better of her. 

She wasn’t sure how long she had slept, but when she finally woke up, it was with a familiar blanket around her, in her bed, with her glasses placed gently on the shelf above her. She scanned for her laptop and found it across the room, still open on her desk. 

Quickly, she sprung from her bed and raced over to the computer, immediately resuming her work. It only took a few more lines of code before she was in. 

It worked. FIles upon files filled her screen, all titled the same. 

Project Leo.

Picking up her computer she hurried out of her room in search of the others. She didn’t have to search long, as apparently she had just slept through dinner, and everyone was still hanging about in the dining hall. 

“Guys! Guys, you aren’t going to believe this!” 

Her exclamation halted all conversations as everyone turned their attentions to her. 

“Calm down, Pidge. There’s no need to yell.” Shiro scolded, though Pidge was quick to roll her eyes at it. Of course there was a reason to yell! She had just found something amazing, for heaven’s sake! 

“You know those classified files that were supposed to be completely impossible to get through?” she asked. 

“You mean the ones that Kolivan sent over?” now that peaked Keith’s interest. 

“Pidge, how did you get these? They were sent strictly to Allura.”another scolding from Shiro, earning another eye roll. Honestly, did they know nothing about her? The second you tell Pidge not to do something, she’s bound to do it 3 times over. 

“How I got them, is not of your concern. This however is.” She handed the laptop to Shiro expectantly. “Apparently, the files were of this new thing that the Galra have been working on. Something to enhance their soldiers. Some experimental serum by the looks of it. The program is called-” 

“Project Leo.” Lance’s voice was barely above a whisper, but somehow it was heard by everyone. 

The group stared at him in shock, Pidge the most out of everyone. 

“How did you know that?” Hunk hated the shakiness of his voice, but he couldn’t help it. 

The room fell completely silent. All excitement Pidge could have had had dissipated quickly at the sound of Lance’s voice. The pained sound made her wish she had never tried to open the files to begin with. 

“Because I was one of the experiments.” 

\+ 

Lance was pissed. As he stomped his way towards the bridge, towards where he knew Allura would be, his anger only seemed to grow. 

Who the hell did she think she was? 

What right did she have to do any of this?

The doors opened swiftly, the sound clearly startling Shiro and Allura out of whatever conversation they were having. 

Another day, Lance would have apologized profusely for interrupting. But today? He could care less about being polite. 

“What the actual FUCK ALLURA?” 

“Shiro, could you give us a second?” the Altean turned to Shiro who simply nodded before exiting the room in a hurry. 

Once the doors had closed Allura turned to a seething Lance. 

“Yes, Lance?” 

“How dare you! I had to find out about this mission through Keith. Keith! You know out of everyone here, the one person who should be on that mission is me!”

“I’m sorry Lance, but you’re not going.” Allura sighed, “I understand that you are angry-” 

“Angry?” Lance exclaimed, his voice dripping in contempt. “Oh no, Allura, I’m not angry. I’m fucking pissed the fuck off! WHat makes you think that you can just bench me on a mission like this?” 

Allura knew where he was coming from, could really understand why he wanted to go. These people had held him captive after all, changed him into what he was today. But it was that exact reason why she couldn’t in good conscience allow him to go. 

“Lance, you are frustrated, believe me, I know. But at the moment I do not think it is wise given your current mental state.” 

“It was fine enough for you to try to force me to do the mindmeld last week, Princess.” his last word came out as a sneer and it took all Allura had not to give into the blatant disrespect the Blue Paladin was showing to her. 

“The mindmeld exercise was meant to help fix that.” she stated as calmly as possible. “That was why I suggested it. However, your reluctance hindered such.” 

“So you’re punishing me for not wanting to relive my traumatic experiences?” Lance could not believe what he was hearing. So much for a fucking support system. “Tell me, Allura, how does being forced to endure torture again fix my mental state? I’d love to hear it!” Lance held nothing back in his voice. All anger and sarcasm that Allura could do nothing to fix. She was only trying to help. 

“I am not punishing you, Lance. But with your recent panic attacks and nightmares, it is unwise to send you out like this.” 

There was a beat of silence that gave Allura false hope that she had finally gotten through to him. She should have known better and cursed herself for her optimism. 

“How do you know about that?” it was a genuine question despite the words coming out in a hiss. Only then did Allura realize that she had said too much. 

It was no secret that Lance had nightmares. They were quite frequent and loud the first few weeks of his return. However, they had seemed to calm down after a bit. It was believed that they now came less frequently, that was until Keith had come to Allura with his concern about his fellow paladin. 

Apparently, rather than the widely believed situation in which Lance “was handling it”, his nightmares and anxiety had only increased drastically. It was only due to Keith taking it upon himself to be able to calm Lance down that the team was given a false sense of security. 

The only people who really knew about that were Keith and Allura. Not even Coran had been informed. 

“W-well...I-I-”

“Keith told you, didn’t he?” a new rise of anger fille the Blue Paladin as the realization set in. “Didn’t he?” he asked again, louder that before when Allura had failed to answer the first time.

“H-he. He’s worried about you. Lance we all are.” 

“Oh don’t give me that bullshit. If you were worried, you would have asked me about it. Not talk about me behind my back and exclude me from a mission that is literally about me!” 

She didn’t know what to say. 

What could she say? 

Lance couldn’t go on the mission. He was too much of a liability at this point, but it seemed that anything that she could say to make him understand would only fall on deaf ears. 

“I’m sorry, Lance. But you cannot go on the mission. We will keep you updated but it is vital that you remain here. As of now, you will be under strict observation by Coran, and when he deems you mentally fit, you may return to missions. My choice is final, and Shiro agrees.” 

She took a few tentative steps forward, softening her eyes as she neared the Blue Paladin. 

“I’m trying to do what is right for the team and for you. I am trying to keep you safe. I hope that you can understand.” 

“Oh, I understand perfectly, Princess.” And with that, he stormed out of the bridge. 

Allura waited until the doors finally closed before collapsing on her knees. WIth her head in her hands, she took a few shaky breaths to calm herself. 

She was only trying to do what was right. So why did it feel like everything she did was only pushing Lance farther away from them?

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof, guess who wrote another one! This one was pretty good because agnst but without the physical hurt to the characters. Honestly, at this point the team just doesn't know how to help Lance, and well we all know Lance. That boy internalizes everything. My poor baby just wants to be of use to the team. 
> 
> As always, don't forget to hit that Kudos button, and leave a Comment! and I will see ya'll in the next one!


	14. fourteen

The team left at 0800 the next morning. Allura had convinced, after quite a long time, BLue to let her pilot. Though it was clear that Blue was not happy about it. The only lion that was missing was the red one. 

Keith had chosen to stay behind, to much confusion of the team. Though Lance could vaguely guess why. He felt guilty. Keith had been the one to bring into question Lance’s ability to complete missions, and even though that wasn’t his intention, he knew that it still hurt Lance. 

Their relationship was rocky as it was. Neither of them really knew where they stood with the other, what they were to each other, and it seemed that the present situation had complicated things even more so. 

Lance was refusing to talk to Keith, and it hurt. He hadn’t meant to indirectly ground the sharpshooter. He had only wanted to voice his concerns to Allura, positive that she would be able to do something for Lance that he couldn’t. 

Normally, the only kind of confrontation Keith would be willing to face was violent, but he didn’t want to fight Lance. He wanted to apologize. To take responsibility for what was happening to Lance. He owed him that much at least. 

It wasn’t hard to track the Blue Paladin down. He had locked himself in his room since breakfast. It was a good thing Keith knew the code by heart. 

Punching in the code, he was relieved when the door whooshed open revealing Lance sitting at his desk. Keith could hear the volume of the headphones from where he stood, which made him cringe. The EDM music that Lance listened to was loud enough, didn’t anyone warn him of blowing out an eardrum? 

Keith knocked twice before taking loud steps towards the boy, hoping that they would be loud enough to let Lance know that he was there. Lance’s anxiety had spiked dramatically since his return and it took one accidental sneak up by Pidge to inform the team that it was vital for Lance to know that you were coming, so as to avoid a swift punch to the face out of panic. 

“What do you want, Keith?” Lance sighed as he removed his earphones. He swiveled his chair to look at the red paladin, arms crossed as he leaned back in his seat. 

This was it, Keith had been rehearsing his apology for hours now, trying to make it sound as genuine and coherent as possible. Though at the very moment, what ever award winning speech he had come up with beforehand had vanished as those hard blue eyes stared into him. 

“I’m sorry.” he blurted out, cursing himself for his lack of grace. 

He immediately dropped his gaze, eyes staring at the floor. There was only a tense silence between them, and Keith begged his mind to come up with something, anything to put an end to this crushing feeling. 

But of course, his mind, nor his mouth could seem to work correctly. 

It was Lance who broke the silence instead. 

“For?” he asked, the question forcing Keith to look up and face the boy. Blue eyes met his once more, a questioning brow raised as Lance waited for Keith to answer. 

He could do this. 

“I shouldn’t have told Allura about all of this. I- I didn’t know that she would take you off of missions. I should have talked to you and voiced my concerns to you, you didn’t deserve what Allura did to you and it's my fault that it happened. And I am so, so sorry for that.” He was rambling, he knew he was. How did people do this? How did they apologize?

He was only stopped when Lance held up his hand. 

“I appreciate the apology, I really do. And to be honest, I’m glad that you told Allura. I don’t think she would have found out if you hadn’t. I’m not mad at you Keith.” 

“You’re not?”

Lance chuckled a little, running a hand through his hair. 

“I mean, I am a little bit. But I think I’m more pissed at the situation in general.” Lance leaned forward, perching his elbows on his knees. Looking down at his clasped hands, Lance spoke “You guys are right, I’m not okay. I haven’t been for a while and no matter how much I pretend that I am, I’m just hurting myself. I’m not getting better.” he sounded so...broken. Lance never really talked about himself, at all really. Superficial things, sure. Like how he got barely any sleep, or that he missed his mom’s cooking. But he never really talked about things deeper than that. Keith hadn’t really noticed until now, but Lance had been hiding a big part of himself away this entire time, and it only came out at his most vulnerable times at night. 

A year ago, Keith would have thought of the way that Lance talks about himself as vain, but now he knew that it wasn’t really the case. Lance has been putting on a mask this whole time. 

“But we don’t have time. The universe doesn’t have time for me to get better. It's a long ass process that Voltron can’t afford.” 

He was right, of course he was right. Lance was vital to Voltron, even if he didn’t really see himself that way. He still knew that Voltron needed him. It was even more present today with Blue’s little tantrum about having to take on Allura as a pilot. 

“But is the universe really more important than having you here?” That was what Keith was most afraid of. Lance had always been the self-sacrificial type. He couldn’t argue that he himself was any better, but Lance seemed to take it to a whole new level. The paladin would miss sleep and meals to make sure that everyone else was taken care of. He would jump in front of a bullet in a second to spare the others. On one occasion Lance had bounded into a burning building to save a few children stuck on the third floor, that had been the worst as it only reminded Keith of how he lost his father. He couldn’t lose Lance too. 

“Keith-” 

“No, Lance. Listen to me. The universe is not worth you throwing yourself away like that. What you need time to heal, what you went through was fucking terrible. It's no wonder you have PTSD from it.” 

“We are the literal Defenders of the Universe, I can’t just not do my job!” 

“I’m not asking you to stop being a paladin! I’m asking to for once in your life put yourself first. We need you, I need you! You need to let yourself heal from all of this because there is no Voltron if you continue to let your own health fall by the wayside!” Keith meant every word of it. They needed Lance. They needed him to come back, to be the best he could be, and as hard as he was trying right now, this wasn’t it. 

“I’m worried for you, Lance. I can’t lose you too.” Keith’s voice was so small, he himself almost didn’t hear it. But he knew that Lance did, as the boy stood up from his seat and walked over to Keith, instantly wrapping his arms around the shorter one. 

“You won’t Keith, I’m not going anywhere. I promise.” 

Keith breathed in the scent of ocean and sandalwood of Lance’s detergent, and thanked whatever higher being was there that Lance had insisted on buying his own detergent all those mall trips ago. The pompous asshole had good taste in soap, and it comforted Keith easily. 

“Just promise me you’ll at least try.” 

He felt Lance take a deep breath. 

“I am trying, Keith. I’m trying every day.” If Keith felt the shaky breaths or the wetness on his shoulder, he said nothing. It was clear that Lance needed this as much as he did, maybe even more. “I never wished I was Shiro, more than I do right now. He’s been through everything and he’s able to handle it all so easily.” 

Oh, absolutely not. There was no way in hell Keith would let Lance talk about himself like that. 

He pulled away from their hug, to much of his own dismay, and held Lance at arms length. Violet eyes bore into icy blue ones. The eyes that he could get lost in, but now as not the time to think about that, Keith. 

“Lance, you said it yourself. WHat Shiro went through and what you went through was completely different.” 

“But-” 

“No. You really think that Shiro would be in any better of a state than you are now after being treated the way you were? I have no idea the extent of what they did to you, but I do know that it had to have been absolute hell. You don’t get to compare your pain to others, just because they seem to be doing better than you. Your pain is your own, so stop being an idiot and just acknowledge the fact that those guys are assholes!” 

Keith was most definitely not expecting a chuckle from the Blue Paladin, but he assumed it would be better than the alternative. 

“That was good, Mullet. You come up with all that yourself?” 

Keith rolled his eyes. Of course, leave it to Lance to make a joke about a serious conversation. 

“As a matter of fact, I did. And I’ll say it again. As many times as I need to for it to get through your tiny brain.” 

“Hey! I’ll assure you my brain is of average size. Some may say it's even above average!” 

It was Keith’s turn to laugh. 

“Yeah, I’m sure it is.” he joked offhandedly, letting his grip on Lance’s arms finally fall. 

Lance fixed him with his characteristically famous smirk that Keith knew could only mean trouble. 

“Want to know what else is above average size?” Lance wiggled his eyebrows knowingly as Keith facepalmed. 

“Oh my god, Lance. No!” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It should be known that Keith very much did want to know. 
> 
> lol, wow, two chapters in a day. To be honest, it was just because the last one flowed so well into this one that I couldn't stop myself. So um, if I don't post for a while, this makes up for it! 
> 
> But I am on a roll while procrasination all of my late work and quizzes so we might reach the end of this story soon. I also have to update some tags for you guys because we ar getting to the end and whoa there is a big twist before it so keep your eye out for that! 
> 
> Anyways, as always, don't forget to hit that Kudos button and leave a Comment!


	15. fifteen

It was a few hours before the rest of the team returned. Long after dinner, Keith, Lance and Coran stood on the bridge, ready to welcome the beaten and battered team back. 

As much as the three knew about the team’s state, it didn’t dismiss the fact that once they had finally entered the room, they were able to fully relax. 

Apparently, the mission had gone well. A good amount of information had been acquired, which though bittersweet for Lance, he felt a swell of pride for his fellow paladins. They had pulled off the mission well. 

But he couldn’t shake the feeling of unease. His friends had seen where he had been held. Where he had been stripped of himself and put back together. They had seen what had been done to him. 

However the longer he heard about the message, the more confused he got. That didn’t sound like a testing facility. It didn’t sound like anything besides a normal ship. That couldn't be right. Project Leo was a research project, an ever going experimentation. 

“Hold on, are you sure you went to the right ship?” He asked, interrupting one of Pidge’s rambles. 

“Uh, yeah! Don’t you have ears? We literally said that we got the info we needed!” Pidge exclaimed, clearly annoyed. 

“Hold on Pidge, let Lance talk.” Lance was grateful for Shiro's statement. As much as he knew Pidge didn’t mean to be cruel, it hurt that she thought she knew more about this project than the literal subject of it. 

Pidge huffed, but didn’t say anything else. Instead she, along with everyone else looked at Lance expectantly. 

“What you’re describing sounds nothing like where I was held. I thought the mission was to infiltrate a testing facility.”

“Hold on, you mean there's more ships?” Keith exclaimed. Of course there were more ships. There’s no way they’d only have one ship, why didn’t anyone even think about that? Keith felt like an idiot and by the look on everyone’s faces, save for Lance, the feeling was shared.

“Well I was held in a testing facility. That was how they were able to do all of the um...experiments.” Lance hated talking about it, but he knew he would have to someday. “So if there was no lab, which you guys definitely would not have been able to miss, then yeah there's more than one ship.” 

The team stared at him dumbfounded. No one really knew what to say. 

Pidge had been positive that the ship they were infiltrating for the mission was the same one that Lance had been held on. It was clear now heer mistake and she cursed herself for not thinking about it. If Lance had gone with them, he would have known instantly. 

“Well, now we know.” Shiro stated simply. 

Everyone seemed to agree with that, and the conversation was quickly steered away to focus on the information Pidge and Hunk were able to steal. 

Thus began the day of sifting through files. 

Shiro had ordered everyone to rest before dinner so that they could talk more about it. They had a lot to work with and apparently a lot more questions to ask Lance. 

\+ 

The team was gathered in the lounge room, the sound of various conversations filled the air as Pidge sat on the couch, fully engrossed in her typing. Sure Shiro had said that they needed to rest, the mission wasn’t that hard but it had taken a significant amount of time and it was no doubt that everyone was tired - the Green Paladin could only sit still for so long. 

She was searching through some files and attempting to get them translated. It was a long process and she was sure that she would be up until the early hours of the morning and still only have finished half of them. 

She was mourning her sleep when a voice startled her. Lance had leaned over, apparently he had questioned what Pidge was doing, though she was too distracted to hear him. 

Pidge watched as Lance’s eyes grew wide at the sight on her screen. 

“Pidge, are those the files from today?” he asked, the room instantly went quiet. 

“I-I was just translating them.” she didn’t know why she was feeling uncomfortable about it, but she did, immensely. Maybe it was the look on Lance’s face, or the unmistakable tenseness of his body. 

It was clear his demeanor was seen by everyone as Keith leaned towards the Blue Paladin and placed a hand on his arm. “Lance?” 

He took a few more seconds to stare at the screen before pointing at the numbers at the top of the current file. 

Subject 7234. 

“That’s me.” 

\+ 

Pidge had been given the green light to get as much out of the files as possible. She was determined to find out as much as she could out of the information, for Lance’s sake. They needed to know the extent that he went through during his experimentation. 

Pidge halted her typing momentarily. 

Lance had been experimented on. Her friend, her brother, had gone through this process. Had been treated as nothing more than a lab rat for who knows how long. From the information she had already translated, it was clear that the process was a lengthy one. Lengthy and painful. Lance had been subjected a whole new form of torture for the gain of scientific knowledge. 

And he remembered almost all of it. 

She didn’t think she would ever get the look on his face out of her mind. The haunted look of realization as he read the numbers. They gave him fucking numbers. Called him by fuckin numbers. They reduced him to those numbers, as if that was all he was. 

As if he wasn’t a human being. A person, with a family, dreams, desires. 

But none of that mattered to them, and they had made it known. 

The more she learned about the process, the more horrified she became. How had Lance endured all of that? How was he still alive? 

The next day, the team met on the bridge to discuss Pidge’s findings. 

“So, any news?” Hunk asked. He had been feeling uneasy since the mission. The thought of his best friend having to go through what he did completely alone broke him. 

“Well, we know that they were trying to enhance their soldiers. I found out a little bit of their process.” Pidge announced. “Essentially they were testing a serum that enhanced the subject on a genetic level, targeting the DNA specifically.” 

“Uhh, Pidge, audience.” Shiro reminded her.

“Right, basically whatever they did, they wanted to make it permanent. So instead of like introducing lab made hormones and stuff, they were making Lance’s genes exhibit extreme versions of themselves.” 

Keith had been listening quietly, but something just wasn’t adding up. If he had only paid more attention in biology. “I don’t get it, what exactly did they do?” 

Pidge huffed, “Think Captain America, but without the dramatic reveal, and a much, much longer process. The serum at even a low dose would speed up Lance’s genetic metabolism and hormone production to a lethal speed. But too low wouldn’t give any results, so they had to introduce it over time.” 

“Over time?” Hunk asked, he had been nervously twiddling and picking at his fingers since the conversation had started. 

“Four doses.” It was the first time Lance had spoken that day besides a goodmorning at breakfast. He was sitting on the platform of the consol, his eyes never leaving the floor. “They did four doses over the span of 8 weeks. The first two were separated by five weeks, the last two were only a week apart from each other.”

There was a heavy silence in the room, stretching longer than comfortable but no one seemed able to break it. It seemed that with more answers they only got more questions about the project. 

“So, they were trying to make super soldiers, right?” Keith finally asked. 

Pidge nodded. 

“But something isn’t making sense. If they were trying to enhance their own soldiers, then why use Lance?” 

“Why would they test it on their own soldiers?” It was Lance that answered Keith’s question, eyes finally looking up at the group before him. “Think about it, all the other tests failed, why would they risk perfectly good Galra Soldiers.” 

“...But yours didn’t.” Keith pointed out. 

“It almost.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry not a lot happens in this one, its kind of a filler but not really because well, the team learns what Project Leo was. Don't worry, I'm working on chapter 16 now and we will defiently know more about what poor Lance went through! 
> 
> Oh also life update! I started my lab assistance internship officially! I've been working in my uni's lab for the past two days and boy am I tired, but I definetly enjoy it! 
> 
> I am on twitter if any of you guys want to stop by and simp over the team with me! Say hi if you want! twitter: @spacemom_laney 
> 
> Anyways, as always please hit that Kudos button and don't forget to leave a Comment!


	16. sixteen

“Maybe a cake, Lance likes red velvet cake. Though it's basically just chocolate with food colouring. Or those pseudo-chocolate chip cookies, he can wolf down an entire batch of them. Or maybe…” Hunk had momentarily turned around to face Pidge, the dish he was currently scrubbing still in hand. “Pidge?” 

“Hmm, what?” Pidge looked up from her computer, completely oblivious. 

After the meeting on the bridge, tensions had been high in the castle. Knowing as much as they knew about Project Leo had put them all on edge. It had been a week since then and the unease still hadn’t settled. So of course, Hunk in all his anxiety had decided he would cook something to cheer up the team, or at least Lance. He had it the worst, clearly the information wasn’t as shocking to him, but the confirmation of it somehow made it all real for him. 

He had been closely monitored by Coran. Though it was a larger question of it was helping at all. He never really admitted it, they’d have to be blind to not notice the far off stares, the decrease in appetite, and the heavy bags under his eyes. 

Lance wasn’t doing too well, and though Hunk knew there wasn’t much he could do for his best friend, he could at least cheer him up even if it was for just an instant. 

Hence the sweets. Hunk had been in the kitchen attempting to decide what to make, and considering he always thought better without still hands, had taken to cleaning the entire kitchen from top to bottom. Pidge had walked in about an hour into his cleaning frenzy, perched upon the island counter and opened her computer. 

Having another person in the room, Hunk had begun talking out loud, wondering what he could make out of the space ingredients he had. 

Of course, she wasn’t paying attention at all. 

“You know, you could at least pretend to be listening.” 

“Look, I don’t see you looking through hundreds of data files!” she retorted. 

Hunk turned back to the sink and continued scrubbing the plate. He shook his head. “You know, Shiro said to stop. We already know enough.” 

“Do you always do what dad says?” Pidge joked. 

“Pidge, seriously. What good is it going to do?” Hunk hand turned around fully, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“What do you mean, what good? Hunk, I’m on the verge of something!” 

“What about Lance? Does he know you’re doing this?” 

“I’m doing it for him! The more we know about the experiments, the better. We can help him!” 

“Help who?” the man in question asked as he walked into the kitchen. Both Pidge and Hunk jumped at the sudden sound. 

“O-oh, hey Lance!” the Yellow paladin greeted, as Lance made his way to the fridge. They watched him closely as he opened it, grabbing a juice pouch from a shelf. 

He closed the fridge and leaned against it, sticking his straw into the pouch. 

“So, what are you guys arguing about this time?” he asked, taking a sip of his juice pouch. 

Hunk and Pidge looked at each other in question, a silent argument unveiling before the Blue paladin, until finally Pidge sighed in defeat. 

“Hunk is mad because I think I found something while going through the data files again.” 

They didn’t miss the uneasiness that washed over Lance’s body. Though he was still leaning against the fridge, the tenseness in his now more distinct muscles was apparent. 

“Didn’t Shiro tell you to stop?” Pidge lowered her head at that. 

“He did. But when does Pidge ever listen?” Hunk admitted. 

A small smile played on Lance’s face, though it was gone in a moment. “So, find anything useful?” 

Pidge perked up at the question. Grabbing her discarded laptop, she opened it up and pulled up the file she was looking at previously. 

“Of course I did!”

\+ 

“Wait, so there’s another experiment?” Keith was pissed. Besides the fact that one of his teammates go directly against orders, but apparently whatever was happening to Lance wasn’t over. 

Pidge nodded, “Yeah, well not an experiment exactly. It's called Phase Two.” 

“Phase Two?” Keith repeated. 

“Lance was the first of four successful tests. I guess that was enough for them to move on to Phase Two. Which is basically to see if they would be able to recreate the serum without the manufacturing part.” 

“I’m confused, what do you mean without the manufacturing part?” Lance asked. He had never heard of Phase two, though then again he hadn’t really stuck around to see it. All of this was absolutely new territory for him. 

“That, I couldn’t get. It was difficult to translate, and the parts that I could read were vague. What I did get is that the point of Phase Two was to see if the serum would stay in your body for a long period of time.” 

“Well we know that worked.” Keith stated quietly. 

“Yes, but why would they need to discover a way to recreate the serum without actively formulating it?” Allura was beyond confused. Why would someone go to such lengths to create something, only to search for alternatives? 

None of it made any sense. 

“Pidge, were you able to find the ingredients of the serum?” Lance asked.

Pidge shook her head. She had been searching for days and couldn’t find a thing. Not only that but every blood test Coran had taken had yielded little to no results. They had no idea what the serum was, nor any of its long term effects. 

“The lengths that they’ve gone to hide that, it's possible that they only were able to make a few of them. That or the ingredients are too costly to keep making them from scratch.” Lance reasoned. 

“So what would they use then?” Keith asked, voicing everyone’s question. 

In all honesty, Lance didn’t know either. What could they use? He knew they needed him, more importantly they needed him alive. So what could they use? 

  
  


It was almost like a lightbulb had flashed above his head at the realization. 

“Stem cells!” 

  
  


\+ 

  
  


Lance’s mention of the testing facility had sparked a realization in Allura. If there were more ships, then the likelihood of there being more subjects was incredibly high. There could be others, stolen persons just like Lance, being experimented on, tortured. 

How many had families? 

How many were taken from their homes? 

How many were like Lance? 

The longer she thought about it, the more she came to the conclusion that they had to do something. They were Voltron after all. The defenders of the universe. If for even a second they suspected that someone may be in danger of the Galra, it was their duty to protect them. They may not have been able to rescue Lance, but maybe they would be able to save those still being held in the facility. 

So away she went, to the other side of the castle where the Paladin’s chambers were. She walked past the doors until she came to the one she needed. 

She stopped in front of it, and knocked softly. It was only a few seconds before the door opened, and she was greeted by the one person who she knew would help her. 

“Allura?” 

Bright blue eyes met hers. Eyes that even heavy with sleep, held a look of determination, a desire to protect. 

“I have a proposition for you.” her voice was soft so as not to wake the others, though she knew he could hear her as he now seemed more awake. “May I come in?” 

Lance nodded, turning on the light and moving aside so that she could enter the room. 

Allura had never been inside one of the Paladin’s rooms previously. Though she did have to admit that it was a lot cleaner than she thought it would be. Lance had somehow managed to combine clutter with organization. There were books and pens on his desk, his bed piled high with pillows and blankets. Pictures adorned the walls and a set of blue lights on a string were taped to the shelf above his bed. 

It looked...homey. Comfortable.

“So, what was it you wanted to talk about?” Lance asked, taking a seat on his bed. He gestured for Allura to take a seat at the chair in front of his desk. She did so, crossing her legs and bringing her posture up to a more poised position. 

“I’ve been speaking with Coran, and though it seems you still have quite a ways to go in terms of mental stability, I believe that keeping you from missions would do more harm than good in the long run.” 

“So, you woke me up at…” Lance looked over to the clock next to his bed, “3 in the morning to reinstate my mission privileges?” 

“Well, yes and no. I’m only doing this for one mission.” 

“One?” 

“Yes, one I’m sure you’d be very adamant about going on, even if I were to refuse you.” Allura leaned forward. “A rescue mission, at the testing facility you were held at.” 

“Wait, you found it?” 

Allura nodded. She had been searching for it since the issue was brought up. 

“Okay, rescue mission. When do we leave?” 

“I’ll make the announcement tomorrow. After I talk it over with Shiro, we can come up with a sound plan of attack. Lance, are you sure you will be okay?” 

Lance took a second to think about it. He knew what she was doing, giving him an out. He was thankful for it, but this was something he had to do. 

He was one of the lucky ones, he had got out. But there were so many of them that didn’t. He owed it to them to do everything in his power to free them. 

“I’ll be fine, Allura. I promise. Now, let's go save these guys.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what guys! I finally finished chapter 16! maybe now I can actually start doing some homework. 
> 
> anyways, hope you guys like it! as always don't forget to hit that Kudos button and leave a Comment.


	17. seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okayyy soo before we go any further, I have updated the tags. I wanted to hold off for a bit because its a big thing and I didn't want to spoil anything, but please please please, read the updated tags. Don't say I didn't warn you! 
> 
> Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

The mission had been approved an hour before they were to embark. As simple as it seemed on paper, there was nothing simple about it. They were to go to the exact facility that Lance had been held in. 

Lance was to return to the place that had taken everything from him. The place that had broken him and made him into their own perfect image. It made him sick to even think about it. They thought they were helping him, making him stronger, better, faster. They thought that what they were doing was just and that their findings could be used by the very empire trying to colonize the entirety of the universe. 

Lance had never believed anyone could be evil, not the pure kind in which they held absolutely no shred of humanity. He had never believed that anyone could be so deprived of morality. They had changed that. 

His time in the lab, and in the prison before it, had changed that. He had been exposed to people who treated him as nothing more than an experiment, people who found enjoyment in his pain and torture. He had found people who would so easily deliver pain to anyone they deemed as below them, take power away from the already powerless. 

He was going back. 

But this time it was different. 

This time it was on his own terms. 

The argument over whether or not Lance should accompany the rest of the team on the mission was surprisingly brief. Allura had been very adamant about ensuring Lance’s dependability, regardless of his mental state. And frankly no one could really argue against her due to the fact that Lance was the only one who knew the layout of the facility. 

He had been the only one able to escape after all. 

The flight to the ship was brief. Allura had wormhole the castle to a neighboring gas planet that it was able to hide behind. Due to the Green Lion’s ability to remain undetected, the paladins each boarded it, and Pidge was the only one to pilot to the facility. In just under 20 dobashes, the Green Lion had made its way onto the ship. 

Keith was the first out of the Green Lion, activating his bayard and plunging it into the steel outer wall of the ship. In a few ticks he had successfully cut a circular hole wide enough for the team to slip through individually. 

Up until now, no one had really noticed the lack of security of the facility. No one except for Lance. 

The last time he had been here, it had been hell to get out. Patrol ships were everywhere and the large ion cannon would have shot anything down within half a tick. It was weird how quiet the facility and the area around it was, and he most certainly didn’t like it. 

“Keep your eyes open,” Lance called over the comms just as his feet touched the floor of a familiar hallway. “Something’s not right.” 

“Lance is right.” Shiro announced, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this place.” 

Once everyone had successfully boarded, Lance wasted no time in leading them down the ever winding hallways. He was honestly surprised he was able to remember the path. He had only walked it once, and it was more of a wild sprint than a walk, but the path came with ease. 

He knew something wasn’t right from the very beginning. In no way should a team of five paladins be able to simply walk into a heavily guarded lab facility. They should have encountered at least a dozen sentries since they even stepped foot on the ship, and yet, nothing. 

He didn’t like being back, the memories were much too overwhelming, but he needed to do this. He needed to put on a brave face for the team. He needed to get them to the people that needed them the most. 

He could break down later. Until he turned down one specific hallway.

_ “Where are you taking me? Who are you?”  _

_ “Subject 7234, you are in distress. Please I need you to-”  _

_ “Stop calling me that! That’s not my name!”  _

_ “Subject 7234, I really must encourage you to calm down, you’ve already ripped your stitches.”  _

_ Lance looked down. He hadn’t even felt it. He should have felt it, the pain of it, filling his abdomen. It was only the thick dark blood that told him she was right.  _

_ “What are you doing to me?” he yelled, he couldn’t move his arms to wipe the tears from his eyes. He was tied to a bed again, at the mercy of Clipboard and her assistants. The squeak of the wheels was loud as they wheeled him down the hallway.  _

The vision evaporated almost immediately as Keith grasped Lance’s hand. 

“Hey, you okay?” The red paladin scanned his face, searching for anything that could possibly give him an answer. 

Lance took a second to breathe before he steeled himself. “I’m fine.” He turned and made his way to continue down the long hallway. 

_ Not now _ .

It was much too quiet. It made him uneasy, and it was clear that the team was equally as confused and were likely thinking the same thing. 

_ Where is everyone?  _

After a few more long hallways, a few more twists and turns, the armed paladins finally made it to the infamous lab itself. 

Like the room he had been held in, the walls of the lab were made entirely out of glass, thick and at the time virtually unbreakable. And yet, shards were everywhere. The entire wall had been smashed and glass had spilt over the otherwise empty hallway. 

Hunk cleared his throat, “What...happened?” 

Lance had been thinking that exact same thing. 

Shaking his head, Lance responded. “I-I don’t know.”

“...Mmmaybe we should head back?” Keith had placed his hand on Lance’s arm, apparently trying in some way to comfort the obviously affected paladin. 

“No, we keep going.” 

“Lance-” 

“We owe it to them, Keith! We have to search for survivors.” 

“Lance, do you really think that there is anyone still alive on this ship?” Pidge questioned. She was beyond skeptical. The destruction she could see of the room before her only fueled it. 

There was a long silence before Lance moved out of Keith’s grip. With long legs, Lance stepped over the broken sill and into the destroyed lab. 

“We have to try.” 

As much as Shiro wanted to just turn back, there seemed no way to convince the Blue paladin of such. He was too focused, too determined. The only way to get him to leave prematurely would be to drag him out kicking and screaming. For the sake of Lance, and whoever would have to carry him out of the ship, he decided against the notion and instead turned to the remainder of his team. 

“Alright guys, split up but keep you comms on. If you run into any trouble just say the word.” He announced. The group nodded and followed the suit of Lance, into the lab. 

As much as Keith wanted to follow Lance, he knew that doing so could only do more harm than good. This was something Lance had to do on his own. So he made his way through the room, to the opposite side of where Lance was walking. 

More glass littered the floor as it seemed that everything in the room had been completely destroyed. Test tubes and glassware were shattered. Debris was everywhere. Someone had done this on purpose. Someone had wanted to erase whatever work had been done here. 

He couldn’t say he was sorry for it. All that they had done to Lance, in his mind they deserved it. He hated them for what they did to Lance. 

The small amount of satisfaction had quickly dissipated once he walked closer to one of the aisles of lab tables. At the far end, staring back at him, was a corpse. 

The body slouched against the wall, its chest ripped apart and blood was splattered everywhere. 

“Holy shit.”

Shiro wasn’t doing any better. He had found three more bodies scattered throughout one of the storage rooms. Each with their chests ripped open, their mouths open in a silent scream. 

Pidge and Hunk had set up working on one of the only non destroyed computers hopeful that they could somehow get some information out of it. 

Lance had taken his own path, towards the back of the room. The place he called home for 5 months. The room stood no longer. The glass having been given the same fate as everything else. The only evidence that it had even stood was the foundation. The metal that kept the glass connected to the floor. 

Without the frosted vision, he was able to make out 6 more foundations. Six more rooms. Six more patients. Five bodies discarded among the debris, now nothing more than nameless faces. 

Six experiments. 

Four successful trials. 

Only one survivor. 

It wasn’t until then that Lance noticed the archway behind the holding cells. It must have been obscured before. Or maybe he had just never chanced a look behind him. But it was there now, standing in front of a lightless hallway. 

Slowly he made his way towards it. Crossing the threshold, Lance took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust. 

The hallway was completely new territory, one he hadn’t even known existed, though he explored it all the same. The fluorescent light at the end of it flickered from where it hung haphazardly from the ceiling, giving off the only bright light in the area. 

Lance took a step, then another before he heard something. 

“Did you say something guys?” he asked over the comms and various negative responses answered him. 

“You good, man?” Lance heard Hunk say. 

“Y-yeah, just thought I heard something.” 

“We should leave soon, there’s nothing here that can help us.” Keith had never been the one to call a retreat, though Lance assumed it was for his sake. Him being back in the facility put them all on edge. 

Keith was right though, the only place that could have held prisoners was completely trashed. There was no one here. 

They were too late. 

He debated turning back when he heard it again. A high pitch sound that could obviously just be a machine, though no machines were down this way. 

“Give me a sec.” he called, before muting his comms and continuing down the hall. 

He was surprised to see the metal walls turn to clear glass, shattered but mostly intact. A glass door separated the rooms from the hall, one on each side of him, though both were wide open. 

The sound came again, this time a bit clearer. He turned to the right room and stepped inside. 

He was greeted by rows upon rows of open topped containers. Many of them tipped over but all of them empty. They almost resembled those plastic tubs his mother used to buy for organization, though the walls of them were much higher. 

The ones that were still upright sat on little rolling carts, placards adorning the carts with various numbers. 

7839

9846

4562

9843

There were multiples of numbers. Some having been printed on six or seven placards. 

The sound came again from the far side of the room. Lance quickly transformed his bayard from its sniper configuration to a simple handgun, and made his way towards the muffled sound. For some reason it almost sounded familiar, as if he had heard it before. Though he couldn’t place his finger on it. 

Up until then, the containers had been empty. Clearly though, he was wrong. They were empty, all except for one. As he got closer he understood what the sound was. And he cursed himself for not recognizing it sooner. There was no mistaking what was making it. 

He walked to the singular container, the placard reading clearly. 

7234

His breath caught in his throat as he approached the cart. What he had previously seen as just a lump was instead a blanket, thick and dark grey in the glowing purple of the emergency lights. 

With a shaky hand, Lance reached out to the blanket and with one swift motion pulled it away revealing the one thing he never thought he’d find on this ship. 

Large blue eyes stared up at him, as the owner of the cry ceased their noise almost instantly and suddenly everything became clear. 

This was how they were going to make their soldiers. 

With those bright, blue eyes. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof, that was a heavy chapter. I got a few comments in the last one about how you guys thought that mission would go. did it live up to your expectations? 
> 
> And yes I have been planning this chapter since I started the story, I just wanted to flesh it out over chapters. But wait, there's more. It doesn't just end with this. Remember how I said there was going to be a twist? Yeah I lied, instead there are TWO twists. 
> 
> Anyways, that's enough rambling, I hope you guys liked the chapter, and as always please don't forget to hit that Kudos button and leave a Comment!


	18. eighteen

His bayard had been deactivated and returned to its idle spot in seconds, as he stared down at the small child in front of him. The child with the same bright blue eyes his niece and nephew, his brothers and sisters, his mother, grandparents, himself. 

Generations lived in those eyes, the eyes staring right back up at him. 

With a shaky hand, Lance reached out to the baby and stared in awe as his finger was grabbed by such tiny hands. The miniature fingers wrapped around his index tightly as if the child never wanted to let go. 

Something loud clanked behind him, startling both him and the child. The surprise causing the baby to sniffle twice before letting out a weak sob, but Lance had no time to deal with that now. Someone was in there with him. 

Logic told him it was one of his team members, someone who followed him down here and away from the horrors of the lab. But his survival instinct knew better. 

He had barely any time to put himself between the intruder and the baby before something grabbed him and threw him down hard. 

Lance wasted no time in activating his bayard, the pistol aimed up at whoever the assailant was. 

Eyes now able to focus after getting the wind knocked out of him, Lance realized that whatever it was, it shouldn’t exist. 

The man had been in space for years, seen species of all different shapes and sizes. So to say that this...thing was one hell of an ugly son of a bitch was a lot. Blotchy purple skin stretched unnaturally of the bulk of muscle that stood above him. The intruder huffed and panted with every breath. If Lance hadn’t known better, he would have thought the thing some cruel joke of a taxidermist, combining a gorilla, a tiger, and an alligator together with horns like an antelope. 

This thing was not normal, that Lance was sure of. 

It charged at him, and without hesitating Lance put three bullets into it, two in the left shoulder and one right under the left ribs. Not his best work but the screaming child in front of him was most certainly not helping. 

The monster struck Lance hard with its uninjured arm, sending the paladin flying back into the hard metal wall. 

Ignoring the crack he heard and the fiery pain in his shoulder, Lance peeled himself off the ground. His bayard had been knocked a few too many feet away from him to reach in time. The monster charged at him again, but this time Lance braced himself for the impact. The contact had run him against a wall that had a few loose shelves bolted into it. Instantly that remaining glass fell and shattered over the monster, disorienting him effectively. Lance used the momentary confusion to jump up, grasping the edge of the lowest shelf and used all of his momentum to swing his legs up, bringing a swift kick to the face of the monster. 

The thing staggered a bit before falling back, shaking its head as if it could get rid of the concussion Lance had no doubt caused. Lance dropped down and rolled to the side, hands finally grasping his forgotten bayard. 

It took two shots to the head to kill the thing. The first one only pissed him off more, but the second put him down for good. 

Lance got to his feet, keeping his bayard activated he looked around the room in search for any others like this guy. Once he was assured that he was alone, well except for a screaming infant, he deactivated his bayard and brushed the shards of glass from his suit. 

The paladin made quick steps towards the baby and without hesitation picked the child up. He maneuvered it to lay comfortably in the crook of his arm, picking up the discarded blanket and wrapping it around the baby. 

Ever so slowly he began to rock the child, softly humming a lullaby he remembered his mother singing to him as a child. The combination silenced them immediately, and soon Lance had left the nursery with a sleeping baby in his arms. 

\+ 

It was the sound of a gun shot that alerted the team that something was wrong. The familiar sound of Lance’s bayard was too obvious to miss in the silent room. The noise had sent everyone into a frenzy trying to look for the blue paladin. 

Though none wanted to admit it, the real anxiety came from the deja vu of it all. They had already lost Lance once, they didn’t think they would survive losing him again. 

No one had seen where he had gone, nor could they contact him. Time after time again Keith and Shiro, even Hunk had tried to radio the Blue Paladin in to no avail. 

Another sound of gunfire was heard and Keith wasted no time in darting towards where he thought it was coming from. He remembered Lance had been on the complete opposite side of the lab and raced over there as quickly as he could. It was obvious the rest of the team thought the same as everyone met at what looked to be the remnants of some smaller rooms. No, cells. Glass cells, used for observation. 

Were these where Lance was placed into? 

There was a doorway at the very far wall, though Keith couldn’t be sure where it went to, the room behind it remained untouched by light. Just as he was about to walk over to it, something walked out. 

It took a few seconds to register that it was Lance, but when it happened, Keith along with the rest of the paladins were seconds away from tackling him to the ground in their relief. 

What stopped them however, was the sight of a little bundle of blankets in his arms. 

“Uhhh” Pidge took a step closer to the Blue Paladin, fixing her glasses, “Lance, what is that?” 

Lance looked dazed, his eyes unfocused and breathing heavy. There were cracks in his armor and a trail of blood dripping down the side of his face. 

He took a second to respond, looking from the team to the thing in his arms, then back at the team. 

With a heavy sigh, he finally answered. 

“The last survivor of The Leo Project.” 

\+ 

“How are you feeling, my boy?” the sound of Coran’s voice was the first thing Lance heard as he fell from the healing pod. 

Lance chuckled, feeling the warm arms of the Altean wrapped around him. “Better now that I can finally breathe.” 

“Ah yes, you had quite a few injuries Number 2,” Coran said, righting Lance up on his feet. The altean waited until he was sure the Blue Paladin was stable on his own feet before letting go fully. “Two cracked ribs, a fractured sternum, broken collar bone, fractured shoulder blade and a mild concussion, and this was all from a what?” 

“Honestly, I really have no idea, I think I called it a giant purple gorilla earlier but I was kind of out of it.” Lance took a few seconds to remember it, “But I do know that it had to have been made in the lab. Like someone had cross-bred a bunch of different aliens to get one really fucking weird one.” 

Coran contemplated Lance’s answer for a bit, twirling his bright orange mustache the way he always did when he was deep in thought. It was a few moments before he spoke again, only after having handed Lance a new pair of clean clothes. Lance thankfully took them and made his way behind the changing screen. 

“Well, that would make sense. We know that they were experimenting with genetics, it wouldn’t be a surprise that they did so.” He finally said. 

Lance nodded to himself. It was true, it honestly would have been more of a surprise if they hadn’t experimented like that. Though he could do without the giant purple gorilla-alligator things trying to kill him. Couldn’t they have done some cute animal? Like rabbit-bat hybrid or whatever? 

Of course, there was the other experiment they did.

Lance stepped from behind the screen, rolling up the sleeves of his black long sleeve in a way he hoped looked as casual and not anxiety-ridden as possible. “Coran, I-” 

“She is asleep in the corner by the desk.” The Altean stated simply, a smile playing on his lips. 

“She?” 

Coran nodded. “It is a girl. Rest assured my boy, she has stayed in this room since you brought her in. Number 3 has been kind enough to bring a synthetic formula for her to eat every three hours.” 

“Oh, good….wait, I thought I was Number 3.” 

Coran laughed. “Yes, my ranking on height. I had to update it quite recently.” 

Lance didn’t know how he felt about the comment, it was already enough that all of his old clothes didn’t fit which caused him to get a few that Shiro had leftover, now he lost his spot in the ranking? 

A small cry cut through his thoughts, and in an instant, Lance had made his way over to exactly where Coran had told him the baby would be. 

A girl. 

A baby girl. 

“I’m not quite sure how they were able to do it, but she’s a quarter Galra and a quarter Altean,” Coran stated, walking over to where Lance was softly rocking the baby girl.

“Altean? Coran, I thought Alteans were extinct...well except for you and the princess of course.” Lance quickly added. 

Coran hummed in agreement, “That is what I thought too. The only way I think they would be able to make it so would be a manufactured sample of Altean DNA.” 

“They can do that?” Lance tried his best not to upset the child in his arms, though his disbelief was a bit overpowering and he had to coo a few times to calm her down again. 

“As I said, I’m unsure, but the Galra have had 10,000 years to advance their technology to this point. I’m sure it isn’t such a far-fetched idea.” 

Coran was right, of course. The Galra had been leading scientists since the fall of Altea, at this point, anything could be possible. 

“...You said she’s a quarter Galra and a quarter Altean. That’s only half. What is the other half?” 

Coran placed a hand on Lance's shoulder, “I think you already know, Lance.” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kind of a filler chapter but also kind of not because guess what, WE GAIN INFORMATION!!!!
> 
> The Leo Project was doing some fucked up shit, guys. Like unethical to the maxxxx. But at least there was one survivor Lance was able to save. 
> 
> Hope you guys liked this one. As always please hit that Kudos button and leave a Comment! And I'll see you guys in the next one!


	19. nineteen

If you had told Lance two years ago that one night he would help his hero escape the Garrison with his absolute rival who didn’t even know he existed and end up millions of miles from home in a mechanical flying lion fighting purple cat people trying to take over the universe, he would have thought you were the absolute craziest person he had ever met. 

That or you had just had a very weirdly specific dream. 

Now, however, you could literally tell him anything and he’d believe it without hesitation. 

“Hey, there’s a mermaid planet.” Yup there is. 

“There’s a giant ice monster on a moon terrorizing the inhabitants with its volcano powers.” Wow, rip to them. 

“You were held against your will and experimented on and now because they wanted to see if the experimentation could be passed on, you now have a daughter.” Of course, because who else would any of this happen to? 

Lance bounced the tiny girl on his hip as he tried to unscrew the cap of the bottle with his one free hand, a feat not easy but with his practice of caring for many, many children in his family, it should have been a lot easier than it actually was. 

The baby wasn’t making it difficult, oh by far she was probably more calm than Lance was. She’d coo every now and then, her eyes remaining ever trained on Lance. Those beautiful blue eyes. He could stare into them all day, get lost in the light they held whenever she laughed or smiled, which apparently she did quite a lot. It concerned Lance that she didn’t cry very much, she’d sniffle and whine, but she had only really cried once, and that was when he had found her. 

Coran had said that it was likely that she felt safe now, being with Lance, but it unsettled him nevertheless. Babies cry a lot, even when they are with their parents. 

Yup, Lance was definitely going to have to get used to being called a parent. At nineteen, he hardly felt like one, or even old enough to be one. His mother, however, had been eighteen when she had his brother Luis, so he guessed it wasn’t so bad. No, nothing about this was bad, just...weird. 

Really fucking weird. 

“Hey, need some help with that?” Shiro asked, startling Lance enough to cause him to almost drop the bottle in his hand. 

“Dios mio, Shiro, I thought we already settled that you guys have to make yourselves known now.” 

The Black Paladin winced, he had almost forgotten that little bit. “Sorry, I saw the door open,” he pointed to said door. “Definitely should have knocked though, but I see the dad-reflexes have kicked in already.” 

Lance chuckled a bit at that. “They’re kind of a prerequisite in my family.” 

Shiro took the bottle from Lance and proceeded to unscrew the top in one swift motion before handing it back. 

“Right, you have, what two nieces?” 

“One niece, one nephew and way too many cousins.” Lance laughed, thanking Shiro before he poured the powdery formula into the bottle and a bit of some warm water from a thermos. Shiro took the bottle again to screw the top back and handed it back to Lance. 

“Lot of good practice then?” Shiro asked. 

Lance nodded, taking a seat on his bed and began to feed the baby. 

Shrio sat down on Lance’s desk chair and took in the sight of the two. It surprised him how readily Lance was to take care of the child. He had scarcely let her out of his arms and didn’t take too kindly to Allura’s comments about having a baby on the ship. He personally had to agree with the princess, a castle ship in a time of war was no place for a baby. It was dangerous, anything could happen. But seeing Lance hold his daughter, something inside of Shiro told him that the safest place for that baby was right by Lance’s side. 

“So, thought of a name yet?” 

Lance was silent for a moment, as if weighing his words. Though miniscule, Shiro noticed the tenseness Lance’s shoulders had taken, and if he gripped the bottle a little more strongly, Shiro didn’t acknowledge it. 

“No, not yet.” Lance said simply, his eyes never leaving the bundle in his arms. Noticing the girl had fallen asleep, he placed the bottle down on the shelf next to the bed. Shiro watched silently as the Blue Paladin stood up and walked over to the small crib that sat on the other side of the room. Lance readjusted the child before carefully laying her down in the crib. With gentle hands, Lance placed the small light blue blanket over her. The silence had extended long past the phase of awkwardness before Lance finally spoke again. “I’m sure whoever Allura gets to take her will want to be the ones to name her.” 

Shiro had known that Allura was apprehensive about having Lance’s daughter on the ship, but he was completely surprised to think that she would force him to give the baby up. 

“Lance, did you agree to this?” 

“Would it matter if I did?” 

“Of course it-” Shiro hadn’t realized how loud his voice had gotten until Lance had turned around to shush him. “Sorry,” he apologized softly, “But Lance, of course it matters. She’s your kid, you deserve a say in what happens to her.” 

“Allura made it perfectly clear tha-” 

“Forgive my language but fuck what Allura says. Lance, if you want to keep your daughter, then do it.” Shiro stood up and walked over to his teammate. Placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder, he continued, “If giving her up isn’t what you want then you will only regret it later.”

Lance sighed at this, before turning his head to look down upon the sleeping child. Would he really be okay with just giving her up? Especially after promising that he’d do everything in his power to protect her? He wanted to do what was right for her, of course he did, but something inside told him that giving her up was far from it. 

Even if they were in the middle of a war, even if the castle wasn’t an ideal place for her, it was his home and he would do anything to make it hers as well.

“Just...promise me that you’ll think about it. This isn’t a decision that should be taken lightly, nor should it be forced on you by someone who has no right.” 

“Shiro, this is Allura we’re talking about, she has more than the right to-” 

“She isn’t Allura’s daughter, she’s yours. The only person whose opinion matters in this situation is yours.” Shiro wanted to do everything in his power to prove that to Lance, and it hurt his heart to think about how beaten down he must have been to simply lay down to whoever's command simply because of their authority. He admitted that Shiro himself was a great soldier in that regard, he took orders well and carried them out to completion, but Lance had never been Shiro. 

Lance was never a soldier like Shiro, he questioned orders he didn’t agree with. Before, it angered Shiro how insubordinate he could be, but insubordination was never Lance’s intention. He only wanted to be sure that every possible angle was seen. 

The Lance that stood before him was far from that. 

\+ 

The air was tense at dinner the next night. Coran had eaten earlier and so took care of Lance’s daughter while the rest of the team ate together. Lance had wished he had been the one to eat earlier, if only to spare him the passive aggressiveness of Allura’s demeanor. 

She had been angry since the moment he stepped foot in the castle carrying the baby. Her reasoning being that having a child on board made the team vulnerable. The two had their fair share of arguments about it, and it was starting to wear away at their friendship. 

Friends, Lance had once hoped they could be friends. Sure he had a momentary crush on the princess but it had quickly dissipated with her harshness of training and inability to see the fact that she had enlisted literal children into a war. She had gotten better about it though, since the first time Lance had called her out on it. It was the first time anyone had ever seen him so pissed off, even his best friend Hunk. Now however, it was coming out more and more. 

Allura chalked it up to the experiments, aggression being thought of as a side effect, though Lance knew better. 

It wasn’t the experiments, it was the fact that he was just keeping himself from bottling up his frustrations. Maybe it was the time he had spent in captivity that pushed him to be more open about it. Having several near death experiences in the span of a year does that to a person. 

Luckily, both of them were civil enough to wait until after dinner before pulling out the verbal knives. 

Lance was thankful for the conversation he had with Shiro the day before. He was genuinely considering just giving in to Allura’s demands, despite his belief that she was wrong. She was using guilt to force him into this, and he hated it. Talking with Shiro had reassured him, confirmed for him that he knew what was right for his kid. It felt amazing to know that he had someone in his corner for this. 

So when Allura pulled him aside to talk about his “options” after dinner, he was having absolutely none of it. 

“So I’m sure you haven’t had enough time to look at the information I gave you, but I think it would be beneficial if we went through it together. The sooner we get parents for the child, the sooner this can all be behind us.” Allura, ever the diplomat began. 

“Neveah.” 

“I’m sorry? I didn’t quite catch that, Lance.” 

“You called her the child. Her name is Neveah.” with every word he spoke, Lance felt bolder. 

Allura looked disappointed. She reached out to grasp both of Lance’s arms but he stepped back before she could. Letting her hands fall back to their place clasped in front of her, she sighed. “Lance, we talked about this, it is unwise to name her as-” 

“No, Allura, you talked. Anything I said was just glossed over as if I have no say in what happens to her.” 

“Of course you have a say-” 

“Then act like it, Goddamnit! She’s my daughter, not yours!” 

He didn’t mean to raise his voice like so, wanting to instead remain as civil as possible, but he just couldn’t. 

“Lance, it is unwise.” 

“To take care of my own kid? To be a fucking parent? How is any of that unwise, Allura?” Lance walked around the table to his seat, though he hesitated sitting when the Altean spoke.

The Princess dropped her head and sighed heavily. “No child should be raised in war.” 

That was the last straw. 

“Are you fucking kidding me? You brought children into this war. You-” 

“I didn’t know!” She tried to argue, but Lance stopped her. 

“And when you found out, did you send us home? I mean fuck, Allura, did you really think Pidge was an adult?” 

Allura opened her mouth to speak, but stopped short. He was right, after all. This was her own doing. She had allowed them to stay, had asked it of them. But they had grown now, and having more children on the ship was irresponsible. 

“The castle is no place for a child, she would be safer with a family.” 

“I’m her family! And if you think I’m going to abandon her on some random planet, you are insane.” Lance slammed his hands on the dining table, making Allura jump at the sound.

Allura huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“Lance, you need to think about her safety.” 

“Safety? How safe is she, millions of miles away from me? How is dropping her on a planet that has the possibility of being attacked safer than with me? With Voltron? Do you know what the Galra will do if they find out about her? Allura, they were ready to raise her to make her a killer!” 

“Like you?” 

Her question stopped him dead in his tracks. After everything he had been through, after everything he had done for the team, for her, for the god forsaken universe. He knew where he stood now with her, he saw himself as a consequence of this war, she saw him as a monster. She knew what she was doing when she sent him on those solo missions before he had been captured. She knew what she was doing when she trained him, and yet…

She had the audacity to remove all responsibility from herself. As if she hadn’t been the one to build him into the soldier he was today. Maybe that was why she wanted to be rid of Neveah. To keep herself from doing it again. 

Was she afraid of him? Of what she had made? She blamed it on the experimentation, but his ability to pull the trigger without hesitation had been ingrained into him before he had even been captured. 

He had blood on his hands, and she had been the one to help him put it there. 

She was just as responsible as he was. 

Allura regretted the question as soon as it had fallen from her lips. Lance was not a killer, not in the slightest. He was a scared boy with a gun in his hands. She had asked the unthinkable from him and he had done so without hesitation. 

If anyone was at fault for this, it was her. But the thought of the Galra doing the same with a child of a Paladin of Voltron, at a much younger age, scared her. Lance had already been through enough, such a thing would be absolutely horrible. 

She would do anything to stop it from happening. Though, until now she had failed to see that it wasn’t in her right to do so. Lance had stepped up the moment the child had been discovered, even before their connection was known. 

Lance would do anything for the child, his child. But Allura was concerned that it wouldn’t be enough. 

“Lance, I apologize, I didn’t mean that.” 

“Then what did you mean Allura? Everything that I am is because of you!” Lance shouted. Allura hated when he did so, though his silent anger was deadlier so she supposed this was a step up, even if only a bit. 

Calming herself, she spoke as steadily as possible. 

“You are a product of this war, and I would rather not see another child fall to the same fate. I am only thinking about her preservation. Please, Lance, I need you to see that she deserves a normal childhood.” 

“What makes you think that she will have one? Do you know what she’s mixed with?” 

Mixed with? Allura was unaware that the child was anything but human. Of course she kicked herself for that assumption, Lance was a subject of experimentation just as his daughter was. They could have done anything to her. 

“She’s Galra, Galra and Altean.” 

Allura gasped. The Galra were known for their reluctance to interbreed with others, and Alteans had been extinct for ten thousand years. If anyone were to find out about the girl having both blood, along with being the daughter of a Paladin of Voltron...no where in the universe could she be safe. 

Lance deflated at Allura’s shock. He had long grown tired of the argument and wished for it to end as soon as possible. 

“Allura, I can’t.” Lance finally took his seat, leaning over so his elbows were perched on his knees and his head held in his hands. “Neveah was left on that ship for who knows how long. She was malnourished and had a slight fever. We were lucky it wasn’t worse, but I can’t in good faith just leave her. She’s my daughter. I need to be there for her, for her sake and my own.” 

Allura wanted to reach out to comfort him, but hesitated. She hadn’t been much of a friend at all lately. 

“Are you sure about this Lance? This is a rather large responsibility.” 

Lance looked up at Allura, his eyes had become watery. There was nothing he was more sure about. 

“Yes. She needs me, and I need her.” 

Allura nodded, “Then it seems your decision has been made. Perhaps another trip to the Mall would be a good idea.” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha, sorry guys. This one was a long one. I did this instead of studying for my lab practical, but at least I have all night and before 1pm tomorrow. 
> 
> Please don't come for me for the Allura slander, I didn't mean it. Just like everyone else in this story, she's done some questionable sht and it would be a shame if she weren't able to grow from it. 
> 
> Hope you guys like the chapter, and sorry for the long wait, good new is holiday break starts in three weeks so I'll be able to write more (when I'm not at work of course because you best bet that ya girl is putting those hours in!) 
> 
> Anyways that's enough talk from me. Hey, I'm on twitter if y'all ever want to come say hi! (@spacemom_laney) 
> 
> As always, don't forget to hit that Kudos button and leave a Comment! and I'll see ya'll in the next one! Bye!


	20. twenty

Lance woke to the sound of his alarm blaring in his ear. He felt Keith shift beside him and for a second he didn’t want to get up. The warmth was intoxicating and the comfort of his bed refused to let him go, however the soft movement on the other side of the room made him think better of it. 

So with a grunt that was less of annoyance and more out of the loss of warmth, he climbed out of bed. The cold metal of the floor made him hiss, causing him to turn to check to make sure Keith was still asleep. When he was confident his little outburst hadn’t woken his sleeping partner, he continued on, taking the few steps towards Neveah’s crib. 

The baby was wide awake, staring up at the little mobile Pidge had made that hung above her. The little planets still turned though the light music had long since stopped. Since he had announced Neveah’s parentage, the team had been completely supportive of it. His friends had each gotten little gifts for his daughter, like the mobile, and Hunk was more than excited to be a Tio. 

He hadn’t told them until after the argument with Allura, the one in which he had made it very clear that no one was taking Neveah away from him. It was an interesting day to say the least. Though the paladins had been completely supportive, he still had his apprehensions. Mostly with Keith. There was no doubt that they had gotten closer, hell, Keith now slept in his bed on a nightly basis, though he still didn’t know where they stood. 

Were they together? Was Keith just doing this as support? 

Lance knew his feelings towards the Red Paladin were more romantic than not, but he couldn’t be sure that Keith felt the same. On a few occasions it did feel like that, but then in others it was as if nothing had changed. 

Telling Keith had been one of the weirdest experiences he had ever had. 

Looking down upon his daughter, Lance smiled. Her large blue eyes shifted from the mobile to her father, the second they landed on him she cooed. 

“Well hello there princessa, hungry?” 

He picked up the baby without hesitation and cradled her gently in the crook of his arm.    
  


Her crib sat right next to his desk and thanks to Coran’s help, a rather helpful minifridge. So with his free hand, Lance pushed the button on the pre filled kettle and retrieved a clean bottle from the desk. 

Within minutes he had the baby formula ready and his daughter happily drinking away at it. One thing he knew he would never get tired of was the way her eyes looked up at him. Those beautiful blue eyes staring in wonder, it almost seemed as if she knew. Knew of everything his heart held, everything he would do to keep her safe. 

To his daughter, he wasn’t a monster, or a soldier, or a broken man built by war. She didn’t look at him with terror or pity. 

It was a nice change from being surrounded by people who felt that everything in his life in space had been their fault. 

When she was finished, Lance placed the bottle on his desk and readjusted her to softly burp her. When she did, which wasn’t too hard of a feat, he laid her back down in the crib and turned on the mobile. The soft music filled the room and he watched lovingly as her eyes switched to the object making the sound and instantly began to fall asleep, her tiny hands grasping the small octopus plush Shiro had bought from the Earth store. 

When Lance finally climbed back into bed, he felt the form beside him shift. 

“She fed?” Keith asked, sleep lacing his low voice. 

“I thought you were asleep.” Lance countered. 

“Mmh, I was until you left. I got cold.” 

Lance scooted closer as Keith snuggled in tight. Both of them reveling in the new found warmth of the other. 

“Better?” Lance asked, his arms encircling the Red Paladin. He felt his nodded slowly. 

“Yeah,” Keith breathed. “Better.” 

\+ 

What Lance would give to be back in bed. Safe, and warm, and surrounded by really the only two people that mattered. 

Don’t get him wrong, the rest of the team definitely mattered. They were his family. But Keith and Neveah most certainly had priority. 

He was far from his bed now. Neveah was safe on the ship being cared for by Coran as Allura launched the castle into an attack. Keith was in Red, flying high over the battle and taking down any airships that may be wreaking havoc on the ground below, really everyone was in their lions. Everyone except for Lance, who was given the trusty job of rallying the locals and leading them in a ground battle. 

Another explosion burst on his right, the smell of blood and smoke filled the air, even as it filtered into his helmet. 

For people who were supposed to be taking it easy on Lance during missions, Voltron really just threw in the towel with that Idea. 

Lance readied his rifle once more and fired at the group that was charging them. He took down one after the other, all full blooded Galra. It seemed only robotic sentries were used in ships and for guard patrol. On the ground was a different story. 

More were coming and he had to get his team to the capital for cover. The thought of needing more firepower barely crossed his mind as his assault rifle transformed into a speaker, lighter model. The words Battle Rifle flowed through his head, no doubt supplied by Blue. He took a second to admire the new weapon before reality clicked in, he aimed the gun and fired and the group. Within seconds he had cleared a way for his team to go through straight to the capital. 

“Go! Go! Go! Do not stop!” 

The soldiers followed closely to Lance as he sprinted towards the buildings, slowing every once or so to take down whoever was in their path. 

The explosions didn’t stop, but nor did Lance. As the ruins of the Capital became bigger, he found it in himself to speed up, and felt the rest of his group do the same, they were almost there. Lance spared a look back just in time to see one of the soldiers fall, no doubt from a shot aimed at them.

“Get into the main building! Set up a wall! We don’t let them take it!” Lance ordered and watched as the soldiers did as he commanded without hesitation. Satisfied with they’re following, Lance turned around and hurried as quickly as he could to the kid, Ainos was it? 

“Captain,” The boy reached out as Lance approached. But just as Lance was within hearing distance, a Galra emerged from the smoke behind the boy. Lance took aim, the Galra was huge, larger than normal and much more built than any of them. He could have no doubt given Kolivan a run for his money. It would take more than an injury shot to take him down. Lance had to be precise, underestimating his enemy could get both he and the kid killed. 

So Lance aimed at the one spot he knew would take it down. 

He pulled the trigger and seconds later the lazer bullet struck the oncoming Galra right between the eyes. His body falling to the ground immediately. 

Lance wasted no time in reaching Ainos, Keeping his gun in hand, he helped the boy up. 

“Can you walk?” he asked. 

“I-I” 

Taking that as a no, Lance moved the kid’s arm to sling around Lance’s neck, and Lance moved his arm to support the soldier at the waist. “Use me, we’re running.” Ainos nodded and the pair took off, Lance shooting down any who tried to take aim at them. 

Ainos stumbled a few times, apologizing to Lance, but Lance took none of it. 

“Hey, kid, I’m going to get you out of this okay?” And he meant it. None of the soldiers on his team were not going to make it home. He was going to be sure about that. 

Getting to the main building, the doors opened for the two as they stumbled inside. Lance headed to one of the back walles and carefully set Ainos down. 

“Anyone with medical training, the kid needs it!” he yelled, and another local came running over, assessing Ainos. 

Lance left them to it, but not without giving Ainos a soft squeeze on his shoulder, and assumed his position at the window. Today was going to be a long day.

It was a long while of them protecting the capital before the Galra finally retreated. Listening in on the comms, Lance knew that Voltron had bombed on of their major hubs, essentially weakening the Galra hold on the planet. Lance had updated them on the status of the capital. Allura seemed rather proud of the fact that Lance was able to command well enough to keep the Galra from taking the Capital, and if he was being honest, he was pretty proud of it himself. 

Walking through the makeshift infirmary tent solidified that. The civilians had been evacuated earlier and the number of military casualties was low. Lance had done everything in his power to keep his own troop safe while also protecting the city. It could have been far worse than what it was now. 

“Lance!” Apparently the team had finally landed in the Capital as he turned towards the voice and saw Pidge barreling towards him. She collided with him, almost knocking him over as she wrapped her arms and legs around him. 

“Whoa there, gremlin, take it easy, injured soldier here.” he joked through a wince. 

“Wait, you're injured?” Keith exclaimed, the fear in his voice was hard to miss as he hurried over to Lance. Pidge apologized and carefully climbed off. 

“Took a bullet in the side., no big deal.” He saw Keith’s eyes widen in horror. Cupping the paladin’s face in his hands, Lance looked Keith in the eyes. “Hey, I’m fine. I promise.” Lance said. 

“But you-you.” 

“Just need to take it easy for a few days. Trust me, Keith. I’m fine.” Keith nodded hesitantly. Lance let his hands fall and turned to Allura. 

“The king wants an audience with you as soon as possible.” 

Allura nodded. “Of course, thank you Lance.” 

Without a second word Allura left and began walking towards the main Capital building. Lance heard Shiro sigh as the team turned back to each other. 

“Let’s get you back to the castle, we all need some rest after today.” Lance smiled, the thought of being close to his daughter once more had been carrying him the entire battle. 

“Alright,” Lance said, picking up the helmet he had dropped earlier. “Lets go.” 

\+ 

It was a few hours before Allura had made it back to the castle. Everyone had long finished their plates of food goo and were ow in the lounge room. Pidge and Hunk discussing whatever tech advancements they were planning on installing into lions. Shiro was reading some Earth book for the eight time, while Keith sat silently polishing his Marmoran Blade, his eyes every so often moving to glance at the pair on the floor. Lance and Neveah lay on the floor, Neveah on her stomach playing with her little light blue ring rattle on Lance’s chest. 

The second Allura and Coran entered the room, everyone had instantly turned their attentions towards the two Alteans. Lance sat up, Neveah in his arms as she continued to play, completely unaffected by the change in position. Something on Allura’s face told him something had happened, something none of them were really going to like.

“Everything alright Allura?” Hunk asked tentatively. 

Allura looked upon all of the team, then at Neveah and Lance specifically before dropping her eyes. Steeling herself, she spoke, “Lance, how much of your capture do you remember?” 

The question made Lance stiffen. The baby in his arms looked up at him in curiosity. He gave her a weak smile before looking over to Shiro, and then finally Allura. 

“If I was awake for it, I remember it.” he said. “Why?” 

“What does this have to do with anything?” Keith interrupted. He hated hearing about what Lance had been through. Hated knowing that if they had been just a little faster at finding him, none of this would have happened. They could have gotten to him in time. They could have saved him from everything.

“Do you remember any of the other subjects?” Allura asked, pointedly ignoring Keith’s question. 

Lance shook his head. “They kept us separated from each other, up until a few weeks ago, I couldn’t even tell you how many there were.” Lance answered truthfully. The sight of where the glass cells stood, and their contents inside was still burned into his mind. 

It seemed as Allura accepted this answer, though she didn’t go into any more questions. 

“Why, Allura?” Lance asked. 

“How many were you aware of after the…” 

“There were six cells, and five bodies.” 

“I see. So not all of them were filled?” Lance was perplexed as to why she was so concerned with that. And why was she bringing this up now? 

“Yeah, one of the cells was mine, so it makes sense that it would have been empty.” He answered. 

Lance looked down to see his daughter, her eyes now trained on the Princess, as if she was waiting for more questions. 

“Could it be possible that the cell wasn’t yours?” Allura finally asked. Lance was taken aback by the question. Did she not believe him? He knew which cell was his, had been dragged there kicking and screaming enough times to know. 

“I’m sure.” Lance said through gritted teeth. “Why all the questions?” 

ALlura didn’t answer right away. Instead she stared at Lance, almost like she was deciding whether or not to tell him her answer. Lance was more than tired of being kept in the dark about things. He had earned the right to be beyond that stage of the need-to-know basis. 

“It seems that one of the Galra that was fighting in the battle today, wasn’t exactly Galra.” she finally said. 

The room erupted into confused exclamations, making Neveah whine at the sound. Lance hugged her more tightly to try to calm her down. 

“So what was he?” Lance asked, cutting through the confusion. 

“It seems…” Allura hesitated. “That not all of the experiments were destroyed…” 

“How? We saw all of them! They were dead!” Keith exclaimed. 

“Unless one got out.” Pidge cut in. 

“The Galra are now in possession of the subject.” Allura continued, sparking a very morbid idea in Lance’s mind. Of course they would do such a thing. They had what they needed. The experiment, a way to replicate the serum without a lab setting, everything. They had exactly what they needed. 

“Or,” Lance interrupted. “They let one out.” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof we're in the home stretch now guys! This has been such a great project and though I'm sad that its ending in a few chapters (like 6 don't worry) I'm a little sad because this is literally my baby! 
> 
> butttttttttttt, the story is picking up once more! plot and twists and everything! ya'll didn't think I was just goin to leave it at Lance becoming a dad, did ya? 
> 
> anyways, thank you guys for reading this wild journey, and hey guess what? I'm on twitter so if you guys want to come say hi, go for it! (@spacemom_laney) 
> 
> Anyways, as always don't forget to hit that Kudos button and leave a Comment!


	21. Twenty-One

The softness of night, even through an artificial day cycle, was something that Lance would never tire of. The ability to slow down, process the day’s events and ultimately relax was a luxury he hadn’t had in almost a year, and he was determined to enjoy every moment of it. 

It may have taken some time, and a bit of the altean equivalent of anti anxiety medication, but he had finally gotten to a point in which night threatened to crush him. Now he had Neveah, her little giggles as she played with her plush toys before bed filled his ears and brought a soft smile to his lips. 

Her hair had grown considerably, not unlike the rest of his family. The little wisps of cotton soft chocolate locks had now grown into a full head of hair. WIth every day, Lance realized she looked more and more like him. The cluster of freckles that dotted the corners of her eyes, the playful smile, the little attitude she would throw when she didn’t get her way. Oh yeah, she was definitely his kid. 

Turning over to where his desk sat, Lance’s eyes fell on the body hunched over the surface, deep in thought. 

“Whatcha thinking about?” Lance asked striding over to the desk. The person in question didn’t respond, leading to the realization that they probably had their earphones in. Lance chuckled, typical. 

Walking over to where Keith sat, Lance placed a soft hand on his shoulder. Keith jumped, instantly spinning around to face Lance. His purple eyes blown wide with surprise. 

“Dude! Don’t just sneak up on me like that!” Keith almost yelled, conscious of the small ears just a few feet away. 

“I hardly did, you just had your music up too high,” Lance jokes, leaning against the desk. “You know, you’re going to go deaf like that.” 

“You’re one to talk, I can literally hear the music from your headphones everytime.” Keith bit back, though with no malice in his voice. His eyes drifted over to the crib across the room. “She asleep yet?” 

Lance sighed. “No, she’s gotten into the habit of playing before bed. Works ‘cause it tires her out, but it's literally the only way to get her to sleep now, and considering someone is so critical of my singing-” 

“What do you think the earphones were for?” Keith cut in. 

Lance stared at Keith for a moment, eyebrows raised as he crossed his arms over his chest. 

It wasn’t that Keith didn’t like Lance’s singing, in fact, Lance’s voice was beautiful. How this man could have such a beautiful voice was beyond him. Everything about Lance seemed perfect. His perfectly fluffy hair that even at the awkward just above shoulder length it was at just fit him. His perfect blue eyes that Keith would swear until the day he died that they changed with Lance’s mood. His perfect shoulders that allowed him to cut through the water like it was nothing, or bounce perfectly with his laughter. Everything, EVERYTHING about him was just unfairly perfect. 

Logically, Lance wasn’t perfect, Keith knew that. He, like everyone else, had his shortcomings, but that was just what made Lance well Lance. What also made Lance who he was would of course be his unwavering loyalty to family. Family would always be important to Lance, and Keith knew that, but he also knew that Lance would do anything and everything for his family. Including doing so at the risk of his own well being. 

Keith would be lying if he said that he wasn’t concerned for his friend, well maybe more than friends but he wasn’t ready to get into that yet. Lance seemed to be an avid subscriber to getting himself into trouble for the wellbeing of his friends. 

He’s seen it. He’s seen Lance work himself to exhaustion, overwhelm himself day after day for the team. And to be honest, he felt responsible. Here Lance was, giving his absolute all for everyone, and no one took the time to do the same to him. 

In simple terms, Keith felt guilty. 

Keith knew that if no one would say anything, the same old cycle would continue. And he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t just stand by and watch as his friend sacrificed himself for his surrogate family. 

He needed to say something, anything. 

“Hey, you okay there?” Lance’s questioning voice broke Keith’s thoughts. 

Keith quickly shook his head to clear his mind before looking up at the man still leaning against the desk in front of him. 

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine.” Keith quickly bit out when he realized how intensely Lance was staring at him. 

“You sure? You don’t look fine.” 

Keith took a deep breath, well, now or never. 

“I just...I’m worried about you.” Keith started. He forced himself to keep eye contact with Lance as he spoke, despite every cell in his body begging to look anywhere but here. 

Lance’s face contorted in confusion. 

When it was clear that Keith wouldn’t be able to continue without some kind of push, Lance cleared his throat. “Okayyyy…..may I ask why?” 

Despite his better judgement, Keith couldn’t help but chance a look towards Neveah. The small girl cooing away at some plush that was held tightly in her tiny grip. 

Lance sighed. “Not you too.” 

Turning back to Lance, Keith was met with a face of despair. A look he instantly wanted to be rid of, it wasn’t deserving of inhabiting Lance’s face. Lance deserved to be happy, smiling with that ever glowing smile that could make anyone swoon. 

“Look, Keith, if you don’t mind, I’d rather not do this now.” 

“Do what? Lance you asked me what I was thinking about.” 

“Yeah because it looked like it was bothering you, but with Shiro and Allura hounding me constantly..I just....” Keith watched as Lance’s shoulder sank. He did this. He should have just kept his mouth shut. 

But he was confused as to what Lance was talking about. 

“What do you mean? What happened with Shiro and Allura?” 

“Exactly this!” Lance exclaimed, throwing his arms up in exasperation. “Trying to convince me to give her up! As if I’m not capable of-” 

“Whoa, Lance, I’m not trying to convince you of anything...well maybe I am but-” 

“Keith, I left her once. I can’t do that to her again. Please just stop.” Lance pushed himself off of the desk and walked back over to his daughter. The girl cooed happily upon seeing her father approach and giggled lightly when his much larger hands swiftly lifted her up. “She’s my responsibility, Keith.” 

“I get that Lance. I’m not trying to get you to give her up or abandon her. I just think that you’re taking on too much.” 

Keith stood up and walked over to his friend. 

“I know what it's like to take on the world by yourself. I know how terrifying and lonely it is. Only I didn’t really know until I met you...and you know the rest of the team...i mean the second time. The first time you were an ass but-” Keith shook his head. “What I mean is, you don’t have to do this alone, Lance. I don’t want you to have to do this alone. You have Hunk, and Pidge, and - and you have me.” 

“Keith-” 

“I want to help, Lance. I can’t just sit on the sidelines and watch you destroy yourself trying to do everything. You have a kid now.” 

Lance let out a short chuckle. “Trust me, Keith, I know. Which is why I can’t ask that of you. I mean I have experience thanks to my family.” 

“Then teach me. I can learn.” Keith looked into those deep blue eyes. He poured everything into that look, wanting to convey as much sincerity as possible. Taking a deep breath, Keith brought his voice to a whisper pouring as much of himself into his voice as he could, “Help me help you, please!” 

Keith was never good at showing his emotions, spending most of his childhood either alone or isolated, he never really had the desire to. But being with Lance, he needed to. He knew he needed to. 

“I can’t ask this of you.” 

“You’re not, I am. I’m asking. Lance, we’ve been dancing around this for weeks! I’m not going anywhere, you know I’m not going anywhere. So let me help, please.” 

Lance hadn’t realized the child in his arms had fallen asleep until now. Reaching to cup the back of her head, he stroked her hair as he held the sleeping girl close to his chest. This conversation had taken such a far left turn to what he originally thought it was, and in all honesty, he didn’t hate the idea of Keith helping him raise Neveah. It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about it before. They had spent enough nights sharing a bed for the concept to come to Lance’s mind. 

But raising a child is different from simply being with someone. It's a commitment he didn’t know if he could ask of Keith. 

Except he wasn’t asking it. Keith was offering. Keith wanted to. Keith wanted to be a part of not just Lance’s life, but of his daughter’s. Lance didn’t have to do it alone. But was he ready for it? 

Was he ready to share such an intimate part of himself with his ex-rival? As childish as it was he never could let go of that ideal. It may have been self proclaimed, but Lance had spent so long comparing himself to Keith. Even on his darkest days at the facility. 

Maybe this was a sign to let it go. 

He would never be Keith. Never reach that level, because, maybe he didn’t need to. 

He never needed to. He was and would always be Lance, self freed prisoner, experiment, subject 7234, ex cargo pilot, Blue Paladin of Voltron, and most importantly Neveah’s dad. 

Keith was right. Even before the facility, they had been dancing around each other for so long. And for what? It felt like they were only delaying the inevitable. 

They could do this. 

He could do this. 

With that thought, Lance looked up from where his eyes had fallen on his daughter, oly to be met with the large pleading eyes of Keith. A small smile graced his lips as he answered, “It doesn’t hurt to try.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ANNNNNNDDDDD we're back! 
> 
> Sorry about the long wait, guys. But I definitely needed this break. But now we're back and ready to kick ass! 
> 
> Hey want updates on when I'll be uploading the next chapter? Or even a preview? You can check out my Twitter! I'll be posting all such info there! @/spacemom_laney and @/15_agentwash, and if you swing by, don't forget to say hi! 
> 
> As always, don't forget to hit that Kudos button and leave a comment!


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